The Jungle Book 3: Mowgli's Time of Leadership
by Grandpas Girl Kim326
Summary: Not long after the conclusion of the Jungle Book 2, Mowgli and his adoptive family learned that they were actually his immediate biological family and as such, Mowgli expected to take the place of the man he now knows is his birth father as the village leader. But, trouble starts to brew in the village as well with his father's original successor, his second cousin.
1. Prologue

Prologue: This takes place when Mowgli and Shanti are about 13-15. Mowgli had found out not long after the conclusion of The Jungle Book 2 that his supposedly adoptive family, the leader of the village (given the name Rajah by yours truly), Messua, and Ranjan are actually his biological family as well. But, this is the story of how Mowgli's life in the village along with his self-respect as a human being in general shattered just when the village leader, Rajah, was getting ready to name his elder son, Mowgli, as his successor as the village leader. Mowgli originally felt up for the task of taking over for his father, Rajah, as the village leader; and Ranjan had no issues with it, because he didn't really want the responsibility. But, there was someone among the villagers who doesn't want Mowgli or his father, Rajah, around to rule the village, at all. Rajah's cousin, Scar (originally called Talal), who was Village Leader, Rajah's, original successor as the village leader, resents his own cousin for picking a cub who only just became a teenager, thus replacing Talal. What will Talal do about his situation in the story? What will happen to Mowgli as a result of his second cousin/uncle's resentment of being replaced as Rajah's successor? To find out read my story, which is ironically similar to the newest adaptation of The Lion King (the movie of which it's loosely based up on).


	2. Mowgli Discovers his Heritage

It had been a few months since Shere Khan's final defeat, and Mowgli was happier than he could have ever been. He now had the full support of his adoptive father, Rajah, in everything, even his daily trips to the jungle in which he grew up. Rajah, the village leader actually gave Mowgli his consent for the boy's trips to the jungle in discreet secrecy, meaning that Mowgli didn't actually know that Rajah and Messua gave him their consent, neither did his friend, Shanti, or his own adoptive kid brother, Ranjan. But, Baloo and Bagheera knew about Rajah and Messua's consent for Mowgli to go to the village because although the bear and reluctantly, the panther, instigated it, letting Mowgli spend time in the jungle in which he grew up was what Rajah decided was the best thing he could do for Mowgli.

Rajah and the men from the village still went hunting for their families' dinners in the jungle, but showed restraint in their hunting and left some of the kills for the carnivorous animals like the wolves that raised Mowgli; and panthers like what Rajah's son, Mowgli's, friend, Bagheera was and the spotted leopards. Not that the village men's restraint in their hunting was anything new to them.

One day, Mowgli became curious as to what his original human family was like; if his birth mother was as kind and nurturing as Messua, if his birth father was as wise, just and helpful as Rajah, and if they had been alive in his present, if they would've been generous enough to give Mowgli a little brother as open-minded and playful as Ranjan. Mowgli knew it was a long shot, but he started with asking his panther friend, Bagheera, considering that he was the one who found the boy in the jungle all those years ago. "Bagheera, I know this is a shot out of the blue, but even though even you never saw them, what do you think my original human family was like?" Mowgli asked the big cat. Bagheera didn't know how to answer the man-cub's question honestly. "I don't really know, man-cub," the panther said, being as truthful as he could. "I only saw you in the basket when you were an infant. I brought you to the Seeonee Wolf Pack that raised you after that."

Mowgli tried several other animals in the jungle, but none of them knew about his birth parents. He then started asking around the man-village. He asked every adult in the village if his birth parents had ever lived in the village, until he finally got around to his adoptive family. "Where you were in the river at this time, Mowgli," Rajah, Mowgli's adoptive father began. "_reminds me of when Messua and I had lost our first child."

Neither Mowgli nor Ranjan knew about this. "You had a child before me, Mom and Pop?" Ranjan asked, going up to his mother, Messua. "Yes, we did have a child before you, my dear Ranjan," said a saddened Messua. "A son who would have been your older brother."

"Loosing our first son along in the river is the very reason I made it against the rules of the village for the children to go into the jungle," mused Rajah, who was clearly still hurting from the memory of losing his first-born child. "I thought you made that a rule of village because of that scar you showed me you got in the jungle the day of the night I ran away from the village," a regretful Mowgli said, as though he were apologizing for not being very understanding of his adoptive father's reasons at the time. Mowgli started crying into Rajah's arms when he realized his mistake of that day. "I'm sorry, Pop," Mowgli apologized to Rajah with the tears flowing freely from his eyes. "I'm sorry I ran away from the village against your rules."

But, Rajah was a patient leader with his son this time around and let Mowgli cry until he decided to stop. "I know, Mowgli. It wasn't your fault," Rajah told the boy he and his wife took in not that long ago. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I shouldn't have punished for simply wanting to share the world in which you lived before coming to the village. You only wanted to show everyone the life you lived before coming to our village, and I should have respected that."

"But, I need to apologize to you, too, Pop," Mowgli said, the tears still streaming from his eyes. "I wasn't being very understanding of your reasons for being that strict. I should've known you just wanted to keep everyone safe, especially your own children. It's your job, after all, as the village leader." Rajah decided to come up with a compromise between their apologies. "Then, how about this, my son," Rajah said, calling Mowgli his son for what felt like the first time since his run away from the village. "I will accept your apology if you can accept mine."

"It's a deal, Pop," Mowgli agreed to his adoptive father's compromise. "It's just too bad that I have nothing left of my birth parents. Well, nothing except for this pretty rock that Bagheera found with me in the basket I was in when he found me in the jungle all those years ago," Mowgli said, holding up what appeared to be a tanzanite gem, unaware that it was the very jewel that originally belonged to his adoptive father. When Rajah and Messua saw the gem Mowgli had brought out, they were stunned by what they saw. "Mom? Pop?" Ranjan asked his parents. "What's wrong with your faces?" Mowgli said, having also noticed the expressions on his adoptive parents' faces. "Where did you get this gemstone, Mowgli?" Messua finally asked after she stared at the stone for a few seconds.

Mowgli was suddenly nervous by the look on his adoptive mother's face. "Just like I told you, it was the only memento I had to remember my birth parents," he said, a little frightened of his own mother now.

"I don't believe it," Rajah suddenly said. Neither Mowgli nor Ranjan knew what was happening to their parents. "What's going on, Mom and Pop?" Mowgli asked, now more concerned for Rajah and Messua than afraid of them. All of suddenly, the village leader and his wife hugged one another, then broke apart shortly afterwards. "Messua, my dearest consort," Rajah began, tears starting to fill both of their eyes. "He's come home. He's come back to us. It's a miracle."

"What did you two just say?" Mowgli finally asked them. "Mowgli, this tanzanite gem is the very coming of age symbol that every leader of our village that has ever been has given to their eldest son for generations in the village," Rajah told him, tears flowing freely from his and Messua's eyes. "Oh no, you are two crying," Mowgli said when he realized that their tears were his jewel's doing. "I shouldn't have my gem out."

"No, Mowgli. The gem is not reason we're crying right now," Messua assured her son. "It must be my fault, then," Mowgli said, clearly very sorry about the tears that his adoptive parents were shedding right at that moment. "I'm sorry I made the two cry. I didn't mean it, honest." Just then, Rajah openly hugged his adopted son. "There is no need to apologize for our tears, Hangoji," Rajah said, calling Mowgli a different name than usual. "Your mother and I cry tears of joy, not of sorrow."

"What do you mean tears of joy?" Mowgli asked. "Oh, you two are crying because you're happy about something and_" Mowgli finally noticed that the name Rajah called was different than the name he was normally called. "Hangoji?" Mowgli questioned, confused by the sudden replacement name. "You've come home to us, Hangoji," said Rajah. "We are your birth parents."

Mowgli tried to process this as Rajah set him back on his feet. "Son," the village leader said with so much sincerity and elation in his eyes. Mowgli suddenly realized that his biological family and his adoptive family were one in the same. "Mom and Pop, I can't believe it," Mowgli finally spoke up. "I've been with my birth parents all along. I have a family." Mowgli jumped right back into the arms of the man he now knew was his birth father. "And, my beloved son, Hangoji, was closer to us than we had ever even thought, dear," Rajah told Messua. "I have an older brother!" Ranjan said, even more excited now knowing that he actually was blood-related to his adored older brother, Mowgli, the whole time. They all hugged each other in a family huddle.

Mowgli finally found his heritage, which was right in front of him the minute he was taken by this family. When the entire village received the news of Mowgli's (or rather Hangoji's) return to the village after all these years of everyone, his parents included, thinking he was dead, almost everyone in the village was overflowing with joy_ almost everyone.


	3. Life's Not Fair for the Evil Cousins

However, there were not one, but two whole souls in the village who less than pleased with the news of the eldest son of the village leader returning to the village. They were the only two people in the entire village who were absent from the presentation of Mowgli being the village's next true leader. They were Rajah's cousin, Scar (who was originally named Talal), and his own son, Tajima, who was already in his prime at the age of nineteen years.

These two were also the only men in the village who hated Rajah's food hunting regime which took place in the jungle. They wanted to take more from the jungle than they could possibly give, but thanks to Mowgli reentering his family's life, his father, Rajah, was now providing fairness to the creatures of the jungle and the people of the village.

Talal was given his nickname Scar for the scar over his left eye which was given to him when a Komodo dragon bit him in his eye. The venom from the dragon didn't rob him of his life, that was apparent, and not of his left eye; but the venom did steal Talal's conscience and drove him to the ways of evil. Scar was not happy with this decision his cousin, Rajah, made at all, because Scar was Rajah's original successor as leader of the village even before Mowgli was even born to his parents.

Tajima was just as bitter as his father over his young cousin, Mowgli, becoming the new successor of the village. He was supposed to take over as the village leader after Scar's time as the village leader ended. But, now that Mowgli was back in the village as Tajima's second cousin, Rajah's, true son, there was no possible way he would ever lead the village, either.

Although the bonds of family were evident in these two evil men, there was also a fearsome rivalry between Scar and his own son, Tajima. They both wanted to be the village leader.

"I want to lead us in this plan to remove Cousin Hangoji from the village," Tajima said, brimming with confidence in his own leadership. "No, I shall lead this plan to separate Hangoji, or rather Mowgli, from the path my own Cousin, Rajah, set for him," argued Scar. "You led our previous plan to get rid of the precious crown prince of the village, and just look at how well it turned out, Father!" Tajima argued back to Scar. "Mowgli, as Hangoji was named by the animals of the jungle, was able to reunite with his birth family and the villagers at the end of it all."

"You dare to doubt me, son?!" Scar yelled at Tajima. "Fine then, what do you suggest we do to get Crown Prince Mowgli out of the village once and for all? I'd love to hear it, Tajima." Tajima concocted his own plan to get rid of Mowgli. Then, he told his plan to his father, who shared more than just his ambitions. "That may just work out for us, Tajima, my boy," Scar commended his son. "But, a friendly reminder; I'm still the one who will be the successor of the village leader's title and throne, as I am your father!"

Just as they were discussing their new plans, Mahakuu, Rajah's most trusted councilman, had arrived to check upon the two of them. "The village leader approaches. I repeat, the village leader approaches. This is not a drill," Mahakuu said all too loudly for the two of them to tolerate the unwanted interruption. "You two have some kind of nerve intentionally missing the ceremony of Hangoji, now known as Mowgli's, return to the village."

"Was that today? Must've slipped past us or something," Scar made little to no effort to justify his and Tajima's missing the ceremony the villagers had been talking about for weeks. "So, Hangoji was renamed Mowgli by those beasts of 'The Jungle of Certain Death', was he?" Tajima pretended to not know until today about his younger, _**slightly**_ closely related cousin.

"You both should praise the young master," Mahakuu stated, as though it were the apparent truth. "For even as an infant, the crown prince of proved that survival of _that_ jungle _**is**_ possible. Mowgli, as Crown Prince Hangoji is now called, has become not just the successor of Reigning Village Leader Rajah, but also an inspiration for stepping out of one's comfort zone. Why I was even encouraged by his incredible feat in survival to come over to you two lay-abouts to discuss your village leader's impending visit," Mahakuu continued on, clearly beaming with pride of having such a capable crown prince to take over the village once his own reigning leader's time has come and gone.

"If only you and your son could be even half as diligent as your cousin and his son, Scar. Rajah is very furious at both of you for missing the ceremony," scolded Mahakuu. Father and son decided to stop beating around the bush, but they still played innocent for a bit longer. "How did you guess that Tajima and I missed Crown Prince Mowgli's ceremony on purpose?" Scar asked, feigning ignorance, this time, of Mahakuu being on to father and son.

"Your words may have suggested that you two actually meant to go to the presentation, but the tones of voice the two of you were using were dripping with condensation. Therefore, you two obviously meant to miss the ceremony," Mahakuu said to clarify what he heard from them. "Really now, Mahakuu," Tajima began. "I didn't realize my father and I are so transparent just by our tone of voice, alone."

"Hrmph. First, the two of you feign innocence? And now, you falsify ignorance? You both should ashamed of yourselves," Mahakuu scolded them further, not realizing that this act of theirs was just diversion for Mahakuu from Scar trying to light up a torch_ in broad daylight, something which against the most sacred rule of the village because it endangered everyone, whether in the village or the jungle. "Oooooooh, I quiver with fear," said Scar, finally lighting the torch. "As do I, father," Tajima said, obviously being his father's son in so many ways.

"Scar, Tajima, be careful with that torch the father among the two of you lit in broad daylight," Mahakuu shook like leaf, his confidence which the tale of Mowgli's life in the jungle instilled into him now gone. "Don't look at me like that, you two."

"HEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPP!" Mahakuu shouted out into the village. "Scar!" Rajah, the village leader, arrived as soon his cousins were about to attack his councilman. "You and your **adult** son, Tajima, shouldn't take your frustrations out on the wrong people." Mahakuu was relieved to not getting burned today and commented on the village leader's timing, calling it impeccable. "Put it out. You both know we only light those at night, when the sun has gone down and the moon has risen," Rajah explained, offended that it was his own cousin who lit a torch in the middle of the day of all times.

"Well, look who's come down to mingle with the plain old common folk of the village," Scar commented about the visit from his cousin who was ironically younger than him by 2 years. "You would have made the rule against lighting torches in daylight as soon as your eldest son came back to you, Cousin Rajah," retorted Tajima, obviously not caring that the rule of the village had really been around since the village was first built. "You know full well, Cousin Scar and Nephew Tajima, that even _**I**_ am not above the village's oldest and most sacred rule," Rajah told the two of them.

"Messua and I didn't see you at the introduction of Mowgli's return to village as my son since his birth," Rajah said shortly afterwards. "My son and I meant no disrespect to you or Messua, dear cousin. You know I hold m'lady consort in the highest regards," said Scar.

Though his 'respect' for the consort/mother of the village was the one thing about his father that Tajima didn't like and wanted no part in taking after from Scar. "Speak for yourself, dad," Tajima said. "My loyalties in that regard were once, are, and will always be with my own mother." It was obvious that the one way he didn't take after his father was that Tajima was forever loyal to his long since dead mother, Jahara. Jahara's untimely death was the very reason that Rajah continued to allow Tajima to dwell among the villagers.

"I am genuinely sorry about Jahara. May she rest in peace," stated Rajah in attempt to give Scar and Tajima his condolences. "But, still, as the village leader's cousin and nephew, you should have been the first ones in line to see Young Mowgli at his welcome back to the village," said Mahakuu, in an attempt to get back on topic.

"I was first in line, remember?" Scar began. "That is, I was until the precious crown prince was born. Then, he was lost to us all, or so we thought. Finally, he returned to us good as new after all these years, ironically _**rescued**_** by **'The Jungle of Certain Death' instead of killed by it, the way his father almost died when he was only the same age as the prince was when he first emerged from said jungle. It was incredible that you even made it out of that jungle in one piece during a mere afternoon, never mind 10 whole years like the crown prince. The child must be just like a cat with 9 lives."

"It was even more amazing that boy even lasted that long living amongst and knowing only the lives of the animals," Tajima stated, cursing that his cousin should have been finished when his father made sure to separate Mowgli from his parents as an infant when Scar shot bullets from his gun at them during a trip they were taking down the river when Mowgli was only a few months old. The power-hungry, murderous father/son duo started to walk out of their house, turning their backs on the village leader and his councilman. "Don't either one of you turn your backs on me," Rajah spoke up. "Oh no, Cousin Rajah. Maybe you should think about practicing what you preach and not turn **your** back on _**me**_ or **my son**," Scar suggested.

"Are you threatening the village leader?" Rajah asked, now feeling even angrier than before with his cousin and his nephew. "Temper, temper, Cousin Rajah," Tajima said in defense. "Neither father nor I would even dream of threatening you, dear cousin," Tajima confirmed. "Now, now, Tajima," Scar began. "You shouldn't sell yourself short, and you certainly mustn't sell your old man short. After all, as far as brains go, our side of the family got the lion's share. But, I suppose when it comes to brute strength, the one who rules over that quality will always be my ironically younger, yet a lot bigger cousin."

"Not always, you two," Rajah began. "One day, Mowgli will take over for me. He will be your village leader." Both Scar and Tajima hated that idea. "Well, then, long live the village leader," Tajima imitated a mock toast. "What will I do with them?" Rajah asked Mahakuu. "Oh, come on, your leadership. You and I both know those two should've been exiled from the village years ago," Mahakuu told his village leader. "Scar's still my cousin, and Tajima is still my nephew. No matter what anyone else thinks, this village is still their home," Rajah explained to his advisor. "That will never change as long as I am the leader of this village."


	4. Mowgli's Journey to be Leader Begins

Meanwhile in the corner of the man-village which was most concealed from the jungle by its surrounding fence, Kasiim, the priest of the village and Rajah's closest friend, was working in the village church on a painting of Mowgli. Kasiim was the same priest who decreed Mowgli the next village leader and the same priest who presented him to the village as Rajah and Messua's son from birth. He helped a lot around the village; performing rite of passage type of birthday ceremonies, baptizing the children of the village at their parents' chosen time, painting portraits of the village leaders, etc.

When Kasiim was with his painting of Mowgli, he rubbed the same color as the tanzanite he showed Rajah, Messua, and Ranjan recently onto Mowgli's forehead in the painting, signifying the time Mowgli lived his life in 'The Jungle of Certain Death'. It would serve as a symbol of the first thing Mowgli gave to the village as its leader; possibilities and confidence. "Mowgli," Kasiim mused as he carefully and gently slid the color onto the forehead of the boy in the painting.

The next day, Mowgli was so much more than ready to start the day even by 5:30. He wanted to know everything there was to know about leading the village from his father, Rajah. Mowgli had already begun to see Rajah the same way he saw all of the adult male animals who been such an important part of his life. Rama, his adoptive wolf father; Akela, the wise and just alpha of Rama and his mate, Raksha's, wolf pack; Bagheera, the panther who found him as an infant in the jungle in which he grew up, and Baloo, the sloth bear who was, no, doubt his best friend forever.

Mowgli had only known Rajah was his actual blood father for about 3 months, and nowadays, Mowgli gave Rajah even more respect as his blood-related father than as the man who took him as his own. Rajah and Messua finally reunited with their eldest son, and their family was whole again long before they even realized it.

Mowgli was ready to survey the village and take glances at the jungle with his blood father for the first time in his life, and he could barely contain himself in the wait for Rajah to wake up from his own sleep. The sun began to rise over Mowgli's bedroom window, and as soon it peeked through, Mowgli was wide awake and ready to go spend the day with his dad.

Mowgli ran towards his parents' bed and kept trying to wake up Rajah. "Pop, come on," Mowgli said in anticipation. "Wake up, Pop. Get up. You said I could have you all to myself today for patrolling the village and exploring the jungle, and today has started." Rajah just stayed in bed, while Messua acknowledged their eldest boy. "Your son's awake," she teased him. "Before sunrise, he's your son," Rajah retorted back, obviously disgruntled by his wife's teasing this time around. "Pop, please, you gotta get up, we got a big day of it being the two of us today, and_ oh," Mowgli grunted as his own blood-related father didn't just stay in bed more, but also brush his own son aside. "You promised!" Mowgli said in defiant retaliation to getting brushed off. Rajah finally turned over to his other side, opened his eyes and looked straight at son. Mowgli wore a frown on his face and had his arms crossed. "Alright, alright, you win," Rajah said finally acknowledging his son. "I'm awake," Mowgli's father said with a yawn, stretching his arms. "Let's go, Mowgli."

"Let's do this, Pop," Mowgli said, enthusiastically. Rajah couldn't help but chuckle a bit at his son's enthusiasm. "Let's do this," he responded back with his chuckle. Along the way, Rajah redirected his son's course to a specific location in the jungle, its highest point, overlooking everything the light of their area touched. "Pop, we're going the wrong way, this isn't the way to the Seeonee wolf pack I told you about," said Mowgli. "You can bring me there later," Rajah told his son. "Right now, though, I have a place in the jungle I would like to show you." Rajah and Mowgli hiked to the destination Rajah spoke of. "You said we're not allowed to be up this high," Mowgli said on the way. "That was before, this is now," Rajah told his son.

When they finally reached the top of the hill, Rajah showed Mowgli what he meant. Mowgli could see everything in the village and the jungle that was touched by light. "Look, Mowgli," Rajah said. "Everything touched by the light is our land." Mowgli was astounded. "You rule all of that?" Mowgli asked his father. Rajah laughed at this. "No, I don't rule every bit of it," Rajah clarified to his son. "Just the village we live in. The Northern part of the jungle that lies outside of our village is ruled by the Bandar-log monkeys and your own sloth bear friend, Baloo, I believe." Mowgli was caught a bit off-guard with this revelation from his father. "You know about when I was going to spend time with Papa Bear?" Mowgli asked, genuinely shocked that his human father knew what he was doing when he would say he'd be fetching water. "I always knew about it, Mowgli," Rajah clarified to his son. "To the south lies the wolf packs of the Seeonee, as you called it." Mowgli was starting to understand that he had his father's consent longer than he thought. "In the Western jungle is the Ancient Ruins surrounded by a moat of lava," Rajah continued. "Further to the west lies the jungle's badlands, where the vultures take flight. But, on a positive note for the village, it is where the jungle's history can be found," Rajah kept on. "But, we must never go directly west to learn that history if we wish to avoid the ruins which are guarded by the lava moat. If we want to go to the badlands to learn about the jungle's past, we must go either north or south to go west," Rajah continued firmly. Mowgli made sure to listen to his father. Rajah got back to his teachings to Mowgli about the different corners of the jungle. "In the jungle's eastern region lies the swamp, the marshes and the wetlands. The animals there are real fun at a party, if you like the civets," Rajah said, finally concluding his teachings of the fours corners of the jungle to his son, Mowgli.

"All of these things you described about the jungle; you even know of parts of the jungle I've never even been to. How do you know all of this?" Mowgli asked his father merely out of curiosity. When he saw his father, Rajah's, face, however, Mowgli suddenly decided that some things are simply better off unknown. "I'm sorry, Pop," Mowgli apologized. "I didn't mean to pry. I was just interested in learning more about what you know about the jungle," Mowgli spoke honestly. "No, I'm alright, Mowgli," Rajah said, finally speaking to his son about his past with the jungle. "Do you know why I was so hard on you when you tried to show the jungle to everyone for the first time?" Rajah asked Mowgli. "No, I don't actually know that," Mowgli said. "Why were you so hard on me about it?" he asked his father. "In my youth, I was just like you, actually; headstrong, rebellious, drawn to the jungle out of curiosity just as you are but out of familiarity," Rajah told Mowgli.

"One day, I went into the jungle with my best friend, another boy by the name of Neohe. We were inseparable in those days until Neohe was taken from me by the cruelty of jungle. He begged to go with me, but I couldn't save him. When I thought you were killed as an infant, I couldn't bear the thought of losing you again, even when I thought you were just a random who had come into the village from the jungle. When I found out you were my actual son, I half-expected you to have been turned into a wild, feral child. Instead you came back to your mother and me slightly as tame as you were when you were separated from us the first time. Your mother and I really thought you had been killed by the gunshots fired on our canoe that day. We were completely inconsolable after that. Messua just sat near our house all those years only stared out the horizon." Rajah held his face as the tears started to fall from the eyes he shut as he held his face at the memory of it all. "After nine long years of our grieving over our loss of you, Ranjan's birth had finally allowed us to heal. Then our Hangoji came back to us under a new name, Mowgli, only my wife and I didn't realize it at the time. I had already failed to save my best friend, Neohe, and my first-born son, Hangoji. I was hard on you that day because I was hoping I could save my youngest son, Ranjan, and my adoptive son, Mowgli, who I've learned all too recently is really my first-born son, Hangoji, having lived in jungle under a new name. I'm sorry I limited your freedom, Mowgli. I truly am sorry," Rajah finally finished.

"Once again, Pop," Mowgli started to say in response. "I have to apologize to you, too." Mowgli had tears in his own eyes, now. "You and mom suffered all those years while I lived a happily carefree life in the jungle, unaware of even what I was. I should thought about your feelings that day, too. Instead, I ran away from the village in retaliation, thinking you hated me," Mowgli confessed to his father and let the tears flow freely. "I never could have once hated you, Mowgli," Rajah said, holding his son in his arms. "Do you think I ever stopped loving you?" Rajah asked Mowgli. "The fact that you that Ranjan's birth healed you and mom sort of says so," Mowgli clarified. "I never stopped loving you, Mowgli, no what matter where you're from, what your name is, or even how many children I have," Rajah told his son, Mowgli.

"A leader's time as the village's ruler rises and falls like the sun," Rajah said after Mowgli was finished with his tears. "One day, Mowgli, the sun will set on my own time as the village leader and will rise with you as the new village leader." Mowgli was dumbfounded by what his father, Rajah, just said. "The whole village will be mine to rule?" Mowgli asked his father. "Yes, my dear son, and I believe you will be the greatest leader our village will have ever had in all of its history," Rajah assured Mowgli. "I believe in you to be an open-minded leader, a village leader who knows the surrounding jungle better than any other leader who ever was."

"You really think I have that much potential in me, Pop?" Mowgli asked his father. "I know you have that much potential in you to lead our village into the path to a future that brings our people together with the animals of the jungle," Rajah stated, as though there weren't words profound enough to express his belief in Mowgli.

Just at that moment, Mowgli noticed a place in the shadows beyond even the jungle that looked even deader than even the badlands. "What about that shadowy place over there?" Mowgli asked to his father, curious as ever. "That's beyond the borders of the lands we are permitted to explore. Even the vultures of the badlands stay far away from there," Rajah told Mowgli, clearly wanting his son to exercise caution. "That is the one area you must never go to, Mowgli, even as an adult." Mowgli didn't catch on to Rajah's warning. "But, I thought the leaders of our lands could do whatever they wanted," Mowgli innocently let out. "I also thought man could take any territory." Rajah had to explain to Mowgli why that was wrong, even for a human. "While others search for what they can take, a true leader searches for what he can give," Rajah told Mowgli. "Even if he's human?" Mowgli asked. "Yes, even if he's human," Rajah explained further.

Later on their way to the Seeonee wolf pack that Mowgli wanted to visit to see his adoptive wolf family again, Rajah gave his son some more lessons in preparation for his inheritance of the throne of the village leader, a position which been his birthright even when he didn't know it was. "Everything you see in the jungle, even the village, we all exist together in delicate balance," Rajah explained to his son and successor further. "As the village leader, you must learn to respect that balance; from the crawling spider to the leaping springbok, everyone of us is connected."

"This man is absolutely right, my son," said a voice seemingly from out of nowhere, but it was still a voice Mowgli recognized anyway. It was Rama, Mowgli's adoptive father from the Seeonee wolf pack in the southern corner of the jungle. "Father wolf," Mowgli said, immediately recognizing the face that went with that voice, too. Mowgli went up to his wolf father and nuzzled Rama.

Raksha, his mate and Mowgli's adoptive wolf mother, was also present. She came out after her mate once she recognized the now teenage Mowgli. "Mother wolf, you're here, too," Mowgli said to Raksha, giving her a nuzzle, too. "I've missed you, my little wolf cub," Raksha told Mowgli. "I've missed you, too, ami," Mowgli called Raksha.

Gray Brother, Mowgli's favorite wolf sibling also came and jumped his brother in his sheer excitement. "Mowgli, it's really you, my brother," said the hyper, happy Gray when he jumped Mowgli. "I missed you, too, Gray," Mowgli said as soon as Rajah pulled him up. The wolves noticed how much taller Mowgli had gotten since they all saw him last. "Whoa, you've grown, Mowgli," Gray commented. "Gray!" Rama scolded his natural born wolf son using his own name. "Well, he has," Gray defended himself. "So have you, Gray," Mowgli commented back. "You were still a pup by the time I had to leave for the village. But, apa, what do you my pop is right? Don't the wolves eat the springbok?" Mowgli asked, questioning Rama's response to what his birth father, Rajah, had said.

"Yes, but, allow me to explain that, man-cub," Mowgli knew this voice from the wolf pack all too well; and just like that, the just, wise, noble and kind yet stern alpha leader of the Seeonee wolf pack known by all as Akela made the same entrance as Rama had. "Hello, Akela," Mowgli said politely. "It's good to see you again after all this time, Mowgli," Akela said in response. He was now old, gray and quite aged. He also appeared to have a limp on his right front paw. "Wow, Akela, how long have you been fighting against age and injury?" Mowgli asked. "Mowgli. Be polite," Rajah told him. "I'm just saying that he looks a bit hurt and like his injuries aren't healing as well as I remember they always would," Mowgli defended his attitude by voicing it as concern rather than rudeness.

"You are correct, Mowgli," Akela stated. "A lifetime of protecting the pack and leading the hunts has taken its toll. In a recent hunt, a waterbuck's kick brought me further injury. I may soon have to surrender the pack to my own granddaughter. The only problem I have with that possibility in the future of the pack is that my granddaughter is much too cocky to be ready to lead the pack," Akela told everyone, obviously dreading the possible future with Kisari as the future alpha of the Seeonee wolf pack.

"What is it that makes your granddaughter so cocky?" Mowgli asked, hoping there was he could do about it. "What is it not?" Akela asked in response, determining that almost nothing about Kisari screamed modesty. "She talks down to the omega wolves, she's always looking for trouble, and she always underestimates the prey." "As you can imagine," Raksha began. "The final trait Akela listed is the reason he refuses to give the fight the most." Raksha felt awful for Akela, having to worry what remained of his life away about Kisari as a potential successor as the alpha wolf. "Indeed, underestimating the prey can be fatal to the alpha and the pack," Rama added to his mate's sentiment.

Akela's limp made him cringe when he tried to take a step further. "Yes, but, back to what the man-cub's actual birth father said about the springbok," Akela stated, both to get back Mowgli back on track with his father's own teachings; and to attempt to distract himself from the pain of his injury. "When a wolf dies, after his body is eaten by vultures, what's left of the wolf will eventually decompose into dirt from which grass will grow; and the springbok eat that grass," Akela clarified Rajah's words for Mowgli to understand better. "It's a connection shared by man and animal known as the circle of life, Mowgli," Rajah told him. "I don't quite understand it, myself," Mowgli said. "Could you give another example, Akela, please?" Mowgli added his "please" to make sure he remained as polite as his human father wanted him to be. "It is like the oath of the wolf pack; you remember how it goes; 'This is the law of jungle as old and as true as the sky.'," Akela started off. Afterwards, Mowgli joined in. " 'The wolf that keeps it may prosper, but the wolf that breaks it will die. Like the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth over and back. For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.'" Finally, the circle of life dawned on Mowgli, or at least the concept of it. "Oh! Now, I get it," he said. "It's similar to the Seeonee oath!" Akela did his best, he supposed. "Yeah, something like it," he said.


	5. A Bad Example of Inspiration

Later, on their way to visit Bagheera, Baloo and the sloth bear's Bandar-log friends, Mowgli and Rajah were, themselves, visited by Rajah's trusted councilman, Mahakuu, who was ready to give his village leader the news from the village. "Good day, sir Rajah," Mahakuu greeted his leadership. "Good day, Mahakuu. What brings you to visit me on this trip with my son, Mowgli, who I promised I would walk around with today?" asked Rajah, a bit peeved that, despite their friendship and mutual respect, Mahakuu couldn't have waited until Rajah got back. "Checking in with the news from the village," Mahakuu informed, surprisingly oblivious to his own interruption. Fortunately for him, the news was enough of an excuse to interrupt even this trip for Rajah and Mowgli alone. "Fire away," Rajah told him. "Well, the children are playing more than doing their chores, the women are having a few troubles with sewing," Mahakuu continued his report.

But, Rajah tuned out as soon as he saw Mowgli doing something different. "What are you doing, son?" Rajah asked Mowgli. "Stalking and hunting a cricket," Mowgli responded. Rajah watched the way his son was hunting the cricket, and he definitely knew Mowgli could do better; both the action and the prey. "Let an old professional show you it's done, son," Rajah whispered to Mowgli. "Um, sorry to interrupt, Mahakuu, but could you possibly turn around while you continue with the report," Rajah asked his friend from the village council. "Ah, yes, your leadership," Mahakuu responded. "What do you need me to turn around for, sir?" Mahakuu asked, feeling curious. "A hunting lesson for Mowgli," Rajah responded to his councilman. "Oh, a hunting lesson for your son, right," Mahakuu noted.

Then, he suddenly realized what he had just agreed to. "HUNTING?!" Mahakuu said at his own realization. "You can't be serious, your leadership." But, Rajah only pointed for him to turn back around, noting that the village leader was dead serious. "This is so humiliating," Mahakuu said, complying to his leader's request, anyway. "Stay hidden," Rajah began as a whisper in Mowgli's ear. "And, try not to make a sound." Mahakuu could hear his leader telling his son something, but couldn't make it out. "What are you telling him, Rajah?" Mahakuu asked, but they were both gone from sight. Mahakuu dreaded the worst because despite being a grown man, he was short in stature compared to even Mowgli. "Rajah? Mowgli?" Mahakuu questioned in fear. Suddenly, Mowgli came out and jumped him. "Success, Pop," the boy said proudly. Rajah laughed with pride at his son's incredible feat. Mahakuu, however, was incredibly unhinged. "Come on," he ordered Mowgli. "It's the news."

"That was a very good practice run for a beginner's lesson," Rajah said, now chuckling with pride at his son. "Oh, come on, Mahakuu," Rajah said when Mahakuu huffed at father and son's joint prank on him. "You had to see this coming when you interrupted the walk through the jungle I taking with my eldest son, Mowgli, who need I remind you, just recently returned to Messua and myself." Suddenly, Mahakuu sensed movement from within the ground beneath him. It was the alert mice, and one came up from within the ground and climbed to Mahakuu's right shoulder. "Mahakuu," the mouse began. "Alert from the underground." The mouse whispered the full news of the alert into Mahakuu's ear. He immediately turned pale upon hearing the full news the mouse's alert. "Come on, Mowgli," Rajah began. "Let's continue on our way to the Ancient Ruins of Bandar-log, and then we'll go to_" Rajah and Mowgli were interrupted by Mahakuu, but this time around, the expression on his face was that of desperation and alarm. "Sir Rajah," Mahakuu practically screamed. "Banished ones have entered the jungle, and they have started for an invasion of the village!" Rajah became alarmed, too. "Where are the other men from the village? And the other leaders from all over the jungle?" Rajah asked Mahakuu. "The Seeonee wolf packs and the Bandar-log of the north are leading the charge with the village's hunters," Mahakuu told Rajah answering both of his questions with one sentence. "They know the banished ones are stronger than they are, but every single one is convinced that teamwork can stand a chance against brute force."

Mahakuu was certain of their belief in the power of teamwork, too, but he also knew that they believed that having the leader of the man-village, who held the most power and control over the red flower, would even slightly increase their chances at driving the banished ones back to where they had been banished to. "But, they are certain that having the leader of the village in their army against the banished ones would increase their hope of victory in driving them off," Mahakuu explained further. "Why do you have to go, Pop?" Mowgli said. "Because the village leader has the most control over the fire from our village and the most knowledge of how to use it properly," Mahakuu told the boy. "I'm afraid this alert means we are not going to survey around the jungle anymore, Mowgli," Rajah told him. "Baloo, Bagheera and the Bandar-log won't be available for a visit, anyway. So, I'm afraid our survey and visits of the jungle are going to have to be cut short, just for today," Rajah explained to Mowgli that they couldn't continue their father/son trek. "But, pop, let me help with this," Mowgli begged to go with his father. "I can help."

"No, Mowgli," Rajah began. "You need to stay with the other children. Mahakuu, escort Mowgli back home to the village."

"Yes, your leadership," Mahakuu responded in compliance with his order to take his leader's eldest son home. But, Mowgli ran after Rajah in stubborn defiance. "I am NOT a child-cub," he insisted. But, it was too late. His father had gone off to assist with the battle against the banished ones. "I never get to go anywhere when it involves a fight against the banished ones, even when I've already proven my worth in battle more than once against Shere Khan," Mowgli said bitterly. "Oh, come on, young master," Mahakuu began. "That was different because Shere Khan made the mistake of fighting you alone, twice. This is an army of those who were close to him your father will facing off against with everyone else. Besides, one day, you'll be the village leader, and then you can be the one to chase out intruders from dawn to dusk."

Later, they got back to the village gate. "Here we are. Go along and play with the other children," Mahakuu told Mowgli. "I am no child cub," Mowgli said to Mahakuu. But, Mahakuu just went back to his own duties, as well. "Great," Mowgli said to himself. Then, a stag beetle landed from its flight near Mowgli. He began hunting it. He chased the stag beetle all the way to his Uncle Scar and Cousin Tajima's house in the farthest reaches of the village. The two of them both noticed Mowgli try and fail to capture the bug. "If you wanna kill something," Scar began. "you might wanna stay down wind."

"I know how to hunt creatures, Uncle Scar," Mowgli told his uncle. "Then, we should hope the village is never attacked by beetle," Tajima half-joked. "Go back to your own home, Mowgli," Scar told him. "Neither my father nor I babysit," Tajima added. "Babysit?" Mowgli said appalled at their jokes. "I'm gonna the leader of the village someday. My father showed every territory in the jungle surrounding the village, and I'm gonna rule the village one day," Mowgli finished his monologue to his uncle and cousin. "Is that so?" Scar asked him. "Think about it," Mowgli began. "When I'm leader of our village, I'll have to give the two of **you** orders; tell **you two** what to do. How weird is that?" Mowgli innocently stated to Scar and Tajima, not knowing that his uncle and cousin had it out for him and his father. "You've no idea, Cousin Mowgli," Tajima said bitterly, holding back his jealous and hateful rage towards his younger-by-more-than-7-whole-years cousin. Tajima truly resented Mowgli for the fact that neither he nor his father, Scar, will ever be the village leader. "So, your dad showed you everything around the jungle surrounding our village?" Scar asked Mowgli. "Yeah, he showed it all to me," Mowgli said. "Even the shadows beyond the jungle's borders?" Tajima asked, finally having come up with _**his**_ plan to put an end to Mowgli's life. "No, Cousin Tajima," Mowgli admitted, clearly finding it uncomfortably embarrassing. "My father said I can't go there, ever!" Scar saw where his son's plan was leading. "And he's absolutely correct," he added. "A jungle animal graveyard is no place for a young prince." Mowgli was suddenly interested in the concept. "A jungle animal graveyard?" Mowgli asked them, elated. "Whoa!" he said in awe, looking over in the direction of those shadows. "Oh, dear. I seem to have to said too much," Scar feigned innocence toward his own cousin's son. "Come now, father," Tajima helped his father along. "Cousin Mowgli would have found out sooner or later, anyway_ being the next village leader… and all."

"You two have been there?" Mowgli asked, being excited to have run into Uncle Scar and his own son, Tajima. "We've all been there, Mowgli," Tajima lied through his teeth to his innocent cousin. "But, it's no place for a child or the animal cubs," Scar told Mowgli. "All that lifeless vegetation, those dead and rotting bones, those burning pools of oozing mud. Not even the vultures who rule the badlands would dare to go there; but because of that, those hideous birds don't know what they're missing," Tajima said, further continuing to stir up his **own** plan for Mowgli's end. "Lifeless vegetation? Rotting bones? Oozing mud?" Mowgli asked them, digging himself in deeper to the pit of his own excitement about what his cousins were describing. "Promise my son and myself you'll stay away, Mowgli," Scar said, though winking at his cousin's son afterwards. "Now, run along back to the other children." Mowgli started to head out of their house. "And remember, Cousin Mowgli," Tajima added for effect. "It's a secret between the 3 of us."


	6. A Date with Dangerous Circumstances

Mowgli rushed over to where the other children were playing and ran to his friend, Shanti. "Shanti, come on. We have to go," Mowgli told her. "Where to, Mowgli?" she asked. "Watering hole in the jungle," he responded quickly. "Mowgli, I'm kind of in the middle of my break from my chores right now," Shanti told him. "She's right, Mowgli," said Kadma, Shanti's mother. "She'll be needed to help me with the laundry later, anyway."

"And you're late for cleaning yourself up," Messua said to her eldest son. So, she threw Mowgli into the bathing fountain next to where they all were. Messua scrubbed her son clean… or at least, as clean as she could make him. "MOM! Mom, I can clean myself up on my own," Mowgli protested against Messua. "Come on, mom, you're messing up my hair," Mowgli said, rinsing all the soap suds off himself. "See? All cleaned-up," Mowgli told his mother as soon as he stood up. "Now, can we go?" he asked his mother. "There's no more banished ones. Pop and the rest of the village men and the leaders of the jungle chased them all away." Messua pondered on this. "Alright, but just to the watering hole and no further," she told her eldest son. "Can I go with them, mommy?" Ranjan asked. "Sorry, Ranjan," Mowgli said. "This excursion's for the big kids only. Doesn't mean we don't still like you," Mowgli explained that it was practically a date. "Stay down wind, you two," Messua continued with her conditions for their outing. "And take Mahakuu with you for supervision," Messua finally finished with the conditions of the excursion. "Mahakuu?!" Mowgli and Shanti said in unison. "Either Mahakuu goes or you two stay right here," Messua ordered.

Later, Mowgli and Shanti were on their way supposedly to the watering hole with Mahakuu as a chaperone. "So, where are we really going, Mowgli?" Shanti asked her friend. "How'd you know?" Mowgli asked her back. "Come on, as if it's not obvious," she began. "You hate drinking from the watering hole, Mowgli, even when you lived among the wolves of the Seeonee," Shanti finished. "I heard about this place, Shanti. The most incredible, amazing…" Mowgli started to speak, but an impatient Shanti cut him off. "Just tell me where," she said. "A jungle animal graveyard," he finally told her. "Whoa!" Shanti responded to Mowgli in awe. "How far is it?" she asked. "Not that far from here," Mowgli told Shanti. "Where is it?" she asked him in response. "Just within the shadows," Mowgli told Shanti, but it was hardly reassuring. "Beyond even the jungle's eastern border?" she asked him. "Yep!" he said confidently. "Beyond even the badlands?" she asked further. "Yep!" he said again. "Where even the rot is dead?" she asked further, doubting this escapade even more than before. "Affirmative!" he said, only furthering his friend's doubts. "But, don't worry!" Mowgli told Shanti, trying to instill some confidence back into her. "Everyone's been there. Even my cousin Tajima has been there, and he's the youngest of the adults." Shanti's doubts were still intact, though. "We've never been that far, Mowgli," she said, voicing the concerns she still had. "What if we get lost along the way?"

"Don't worry," Mowgli told Shanti, trying to further her confidence. "I strolled around the entire jungle with my pop this morning. There's nothing to worry about," he exaggerated a bit about the stroll around the jungle that was cut short, but Mowgli still had enough confidence to fill the ocean. "Well, there is one thing we actually do need to worry about, right now," Shanti responded, referring to Mahakuu hovering over them like a vulture and consistently checking for any possible danger. "Children, freeze, we have an imminent threat to your safety approaching," Mahakuu stopped in concern for the two of them. "Oh, wait a minute. It is just my own shadow. Well, let's carry on then, shall we?" Mahakuu insisted. "How do we get rid of the man-child?" Shanti asked, notifying her friend of the hinderance to their journey that was Mahakuu. "Trust me. We got this," Mowgli told her. "Follow me to freedom."

But then, Mahakuu came up to the two children-cubs and said something neither Mowgli nor Shanti expected to hear at all. "Ah, how lovely it is to see the future village leader with his future wife consort. Ah, I could just go bald," Mahakuuu said, unintentionally sharing too much information in expressing his own happiness. "That's just disturbing, Mahakuu," Shanti said in annoyance of just how much their chaperone shared in his own expression of joy. "And just what do you even mean by 'future wife consort'?" Mowgli asked. He was scared of Mahakuu's answer, but he asked his father's councilman, anyway. "One day, the two of you are going to be betrothed, intended, affianced," Mahakuu told them, but they didn't understand. "Mowgli, do you speak village council member?" Shanti asked him, finally voicing their joint confusion. "Married! One day, you two will be married!" Mahakuu told them. This information wasn't exactly new to them, but Mowgli and Shanti still didn't understand. "To one another!" Mahakuu finally said, trying one last time to bring an end to their confusion. The two of them just exclaimed in disgust at the very thought of this. "That's never gonna happen, Mahakuu," Mowgli told him. "Shanti and I are just friends," he insisted. "Besides, Mowgli has the same level of restraint as his own tiger enemy from the past did," Shanti added. "Shanti's still a bit too skittish in the jungle," Mowgli bit back. "He never told anyone in the village about his encounters with the greediest python in the whole jungle, and I was almost eaten because of it," she said in response. "She'd make such a ditzy, airheaded wife consort for me, anyway, if Kaa was able to hypnotize her that easily," Mowgli said back, commenting on how simple it was for the serpent to manipulate her with just the gaze of his eyes alone.

"A villager who ignores tradition?" Mahakuu questioned about his village's crown prince. "With an attitude like what you have right now, Mowgli, I'm afraid you'll be a pretty pathetic leader to our village." Mowgli actually was in love with Shanti, he just wanted to marry her when the time came with being in love as his only reason, not for the sake of a tradition. Shanti was in the same boat as Mowgli on the fact that their parents arranged their marriage behind their backs. "Well, I'm not gonna let anybody tell me where to go, what to do, or even who to marry," he said in refusal to back down from his own side of the argument. "There will never be a village leader like me," Mowgli argued further. "This is an outrage! I will have no choice but to report this to his leadership, Sir Rajah AKA your father," Mahakuu said about the matter. "Well, in that case, Mahakuu, you're fired," Mowgli responded. "Only the village leader can make that decision. Mowgli, you can't escape your destiny," Mahakuu told him. "Just watch me try to escape it," Mowgli told Mahakuu in further defiant refusal to back down from his and Shanti's argument against marrying for tradition.

Later, as soon as Mowgli and Shanti finally got away from Mahakuu, they, themselves, were arguing about their destiny. "Mowgli, we finally ditched the little man," Shanti said, having had fun with it. "I know what you're thinking; the future leader of the village is quite a genius," Mowgli said in unintentional arrogance. "You can't be serious!" Shanti was surprised at her friend's suddenly lackluster humility. "You never would've gotten away without future wife consort," she said, not willing to let him forget that she was the one who knew they needed to lose Mahakuu to get where they were at that point. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Mowgli asked Shanti as more of a statement than a question. "There is no wife consort," he finished his response. "You can say that again," she responded back to him. "I'd rather marry a hunchbacked kid." Mowgli knew who she was talking about. Gupta was a bit of a hunchback. Mowgli was deeply offended, but still as stubborn and prideful as normal, he continued to joke around with her. "Good luck getting Gupta to say 'yes' to you," Mowgli said. "Good luck getting out of here without a bruising," was Shanti's comeback. "Hit me with your best shot," Mowgli told her. They wrestled a bit, and Shanti wound up winning. "Pinned ya! You owe me an apology," she told him after she won. But, Mowgli got back up again and tried to escape her. "Never," Mowgli shouted in playful defiance of Shanti's order. She came back in full force and wrestled him off a steep, but incredibly shallow ledge, so they weren't all that hurt. Still, Shanti won the match again. "Pinned ya… again!" she said as soon as she won. "Shanti, stop. What is that?" Mowgli asked, having suddenly noticed something about where he and Shanti were, now. "You're not gonna trick me into letting you go, Mowgli," she said back, thinking he was trying to pull a prank of some kind on her. "I know that there's nothing…" Shanti started, but stopped when Mowgli made her look at what he was talking about.

The landscape before them looked just like what Mowgli's Uncle Scar and Cousin Tajima described the jungle animal graveyard to look like; lifeless vegetation, rotting bones, and burning pools of oozing mud galore. "This must be it!" Mowgli said. "Come on!" Mowgli ran towards it, gleefully. Shanti was more reluctant than him, but she refused to be alone in that land. As they walked further and deeper into the landscape around them, Mowgli became excited by this feat, but Shanti continued to see it as such a mistake to even go to the jungle animal graveyard. "Mowgli, we're way beyond even the jungle," she said in tentative fear. "We found it, Shanti," he told her in elation. "Do you know what this means?" he asked in exhilaration. "It means we can go home," Shanti told Mowgli, trying to instill some common sense into him. "It means they won't treat us like children-cubs, anymore," he said in response, prouder that he can now re-enter the man village truly as a man than worried if he'll ever make it back even to the jungle. They took several steps further into the jungle animal graveyard, Mowgli with his head still held as high as ever, while Shanti was more worried about their chances to make it back home to the village. She was a bit bolder about visiting the jungle with Mowgli; but this was beyond even the jungle's borders, and it was making fear of the jungle return to her mind, and after she had just recently gotten fully comfortable with their visits to the jungle.

A few small pebbles fell near where they were walking, and Shanti automatically knew full well that meant someone was watching them as they went further into the jungle animal graveyard. When Mowgli and Shanti finally reached what they could make out as a cave which resembled an elephant skull, Shanti grew more skittish, but Mowgli only grew intrigued. He walked up the rocks until he was at the mouth of the cave. "Mowgli, get down," Shanti told him in concern. "It could be dangerous," she continued to persist her efforts to talk some sense into her friend, but his intrigue with these lands made her efforts a lost cause. "Danger? Ha, I laugh in the face of danger," Mowgli told her, then laughed 3 times to emphasize his point. His laughter echoed off of the cave's walls. "Cool," he said. His comment on the echoing was echoed itself. "You hear that echo, Shanti?" he asked his friend. "Mowgli, get down from there, and let's go," Shanti told him, clearly wanting to leave. "You've already proved how brave you are, now let's go. The sun's setting, and I don't know about you, but I don't feel like sticking around and becoming some animal's din_" she never got to finish voicing her concerns about the jungle animal graveyard, because whoever, or rather whatever, had been watching them from the shadows had now revealed themselves to the two children-cubs.

Hyenas and jackals were coming at them from all around, joined by even Kaa, the snake. "Well, look at this," a hyena named Tabaqui said. "We weren't expecting guests, today," a jackal called Khuhaali added to Tabaqui's words. Tabaqui laughed with Khuhaali in response to this. "Would you two children-cubs like to stay for dinner?" Tabaqui asked sneakily, but his and Khuhaali's clever plan to trap Shanti and Mowgli was ruined when Kaa, desperately hungry as he was, interrupted them by wanting to get straight to the point. "Yesssssssssss, ssssstay for dinner," Kaa hissed at them. "Because you two look like a couple of midnight ssssssssssssssnacksssssssssssss," Kaa continued to get to the point because he was desperate for something to eat. "You idiot python," Tabaqui called him. "Is it too much to ask that you just give a little space and little time to do our job, Kaa?" Khuhaali asked the snake. "Sssssssssssssorry, you guyssssssssss," Kaa hissed at them. "But, I'm ssssssssssssstarving. I'm tired of living in banissssssssssssssssssssshment," the snake hissed his most desperate hiss ever. "We're all tired of living in exile," Tabaqui told the serpent. "We're all tired living in starvation," Tabaqui said further on the subject. "But, we have talked about this, Kaa," Khuhaali told the cunning, but stupid snake. "Tabaqui and I come in alone as the lead distractions, so everyone else can circle." Kaa understood what the jackal meant. "Alright, I get it already, you two. SSSSSSSSSSSorry," Kaa hissed an apology to Tabaqui and Khuhaali. "Don't be sorry, dumb reptile! Just give us the space and the time we need to do our job right!" Tabaqui told the python. "Now, this is a meal that my cubs and I have waited our whole lives for," a female's voice said seemingly out of nowhere.

A full-grown adult tigress and her twin teenage tiger cubs showed up from the cave in which Mowgli sent his echoes through. It was Shere Khan's mate, Khannee, along with the cubs she had as his heirs in his absence, Buldeo and Shakaani. "What an unexpected treat to eat the son of a leader of the man-village at the heart of the jungle," Shakaani said. "Who just so happens to the same child-cub who did our own father in at the lava moat surrounding those ruins, and yet still lives," her twin brother, Buldeo, said. "Is there no justice in the jungle, anymore?" the male tiger teen asked further. "It's really unfair that this boy-cub finally had the chance to meet his real family last year, while my cubs never got the chance to meet their own father," Khannee said bitterly. "Our family and all these other animals were banished from the jungle as a result of that occurrence," Shakaani added to her mother's bitterest thoughts on her father's final defeat at the hands of Mowgli, Shanti, and Baloo. "And to think, he was raised by the Seeonee wolves and is friends with the bear and panther who now lead the Bandar-log," Khannee said about Mowgli. "And the vultures of our former home's badlands also helped this boy-cub with my only true mate's defeat," Khannee said, advertising Mowgli further as their clear-cut enemy.

Buldeo and Shakaani grew even more bitter than they already were about Mowgli, but the rest of them grew cold at the news of Mowgli and his girlfriend, Shanti, having that many allies in the jungle. Except for Kaa, who only grew colder since, as a reptile, his blood was already always cold. "Wait a minute, you said the leader of the village earlier. As in you know who?" Tabaqui questioned this hunt. "Who rules over you know where?" Khuhaali added to Tabaqui's questioning. "Keep in mind, my friendsssssssssss, sssssssssssshhhhhhhe alsssssssssso ssssssssssssssssaid he wassssssssssssssss precccccccccccccioussssss to leadersssssssssssssss from all over the jungle, asssssss well," Kaa added to their questioning of Khannee's orders in fearful uncertainty towards this whole hunt of theirs. "The laws of the jungle no longer rule me," Khannee informed them all. "As for the rules of the man-village, well, they never even ruled any of us to begin with, my fellow banished ones." Mowgli tried not to let his courage leave him, but he was afraid of all these banished ones and for his and Shanti's safety, so he tried reason this time because he refused to hurt a female, never mind a mother and her daughter. "Y-you can't do anything to me, because I'm the future leader of the man-village," he told Khannee and her teenage cubs, which may not have the smartest way to try to reason with them considering Khannee and her cubs just laughed at him in response. "He's telling us what to do, mother," Buldeo chuckled. "Everything about the jungle's and the village leaders' courage flickering inside of that little body," Shakaani also taunted him. "Really, my cubs, and here I am, wondering how all that bravery will taste to all of us, kids," Khannee said.

The tiger family started to close in on the two children-cubs, when Mahakuu came from out of nowhere and acted as a shield for Mowgli and Shanti. "Let them go, Khannee," Mahakuu ordered the matriarchal tigress of the jungle animal graveyard. "They made a mistake, a horridly terrible mistake. But, if you do this, you will start a war with Rajah, the village, and even all of the jungle's leaders." But, Mahakuu's attempt at reasoning with the banished ones went even further as a lost cause. "Tigers have been at war with man since the beginning of time, but the Village Leader, Rajah's, bloodline will end here," Khannee shouted, lunging at Mowgli and Shanti just before being directed off-course by Mahakuu pushing the children-cubs out of her way. "Run, children, run," he told them. Mowgli and Shanti ran for it through a system of caves that none of the banished ones could get through. "Don't let them get away!" Khannee ordered the other banished ones. The jackals and hyenas started to dig to get through to the children-cubs, while Kaa tried to take a different approach and started to slither after them. Mowgli and Shanti kept ducking and dodging the jackals and hyenas, and they proved to be capable of outrunning Kaa, but it would be a different story if Khannee and/or hers and Shere Khan's almost fully-grown cubs were to catch them. They almost got away when Khuhaali and Tabaqui cornered them with Kaa and they had to escape from the tunnels. They got out successfully, but at the expense of being cornered by every last one of the animals who had been banished to the jungle animal graveyard for their past crimes against the laws of the jungle.

All of the banished ones had them trapped, with Khannee and her twin tiger teenagers overlooking them from a nearby ledge. Mowgli decided to take a stand against all of them and roared at them all the way his papa bear, Baloo, had taught him. They all just laughed at this, since it sounded just like a bear-cub would've sounded. "Did you hear that pitiful roar from a future leader?" Tabaqui asked everyone as they laughed, chuckling at it, himself. "Don't hurt any of us," Khuhaali begged Mowgli in mock fear. "Do it again, sssssssssssupper. I dare you," Kaa hissed, his fear of the situation from before having disappeared.

Mowgli tried it one more time, only this time it seemed to come out like a real bear's roar would, and it also sounded like it was conjoined with a leopard roar as well. Everyone became confused by this, even Mowgli, himself. The clarity of what just happened with the roar came before everyone knew it. All of the jungle animals who still ruled the jungle came attacking the banished ones in greater numbers than them, even more than there were during the first battle of just that same morning. The hunting men from the village aided them in the endeavor, with their leader as the head of their end of the battle, and every one of them brought torches since they knew it would be dark by the time they made it back to the village. The leaders from around the jungle, along with all their loyal subjects, chased Kaa, the jackals, and the hyenas far away from Mowgli and Shanti, while the men from the village took on the family of tigers who also threatened the safety of their village's crown prince and his friend.

Rajah stood tall with the control of his own red flower threatening to burn the faces of the tiger family. "If you ever come near my son again…" Rajah promised Khannee and her twin cubs. "No, we would never, Rajah," Khannee told in fear of his red flower. "You've been warned, Khannee!" Rajah told her incredibly angry about all of this. The other banished ones grew too afraid to stand up to him. The jungle leaders were just thankful to Rajah and the rest of the men from the village being on their side. Mahakuu stood at his leader's side, proud that he was able to inform the man of this happening. But, Rajah, on the other hand, was far too upset with his son to show any pride.

They simply left the jungle animal graveyard with everyone protecting Mowgli and Shanti. "I thought you were very brave," Shanti told Mowgli on the way out of the banished ones' land. Though, Mowgli didn't follow Rajah as closely as Shanti did. Mowgli stayed near Baloo, Bagheera, and his wolf family. "You're not angry with me, right, Papa Bear?" Mowgli asked Baloo in fearful desperation. "I could never be as mad at my bear-cub as everyone else is, right now," Baloo told Mowgli honestly. "But, I do need to start to set a better example because of you doing something like what you did, today." Mowgli knew it was the truth. Not even normally carefree Baloo could condone this escapade of his child-cub friend. "You really do need to learn to think before you do, man-cub," Bagheera told Mowgli. "This mischief of yours can't keep going on. You will one day have to grow up into the fine, dignified human-being I know is buried deep in there somewhere, Mowgli," the panther continued.


	7. Don't Worry, Mowgli! It's Just a Talk

The sun had begun to set by the time that all except the villagers had separated and made it back to their lands and their homes, all of them having wished Mowgli good luck in whatever punishment his father had in mind for deliberately disobeying him. "Mahakuu," Rajah said, summoning the man who worked on the village council. "Yes, Sir Rajah?" he asked, uncertain what was in store for him for letting the village's crown prince and his future consort out of his sight. "Take the men back to the village and escort Shanti back to her house," Rajah told him.

Mahakuu was relieved that he wasn't going to be punished for losing track of the two of them beyond his own control. "I must teach my son a lesson," Rajah said, and suddenly it felt imperative for Mahakuu to discourage his leader from dealing his crown prince any punishment that was too harsh. "Yes, sir. With all due respect, your leadership, don't be too hard on our crown prince. I remember a child, a certain headstrong child, who was always getting into scrapes, and he actually turned out very well, if I do say so, myself," Mahakuu told Rajah, reminding the leader of the village that he wasn't so different from Mowgli in his own youth. "This lesson must be taught if I expect my eldest son to grow up enough to lead the village, someday," Rajah told Mahakuu, reassuring his councilman that he was only going to talk to Mowgli about what he did today. "Yes, your leadership. I understand," Mahakuu told Rajah. All of the men of the village were wondering what their leader was talking about with his councilman.

It was made clear when Mahakuu came for them all with the exception of Mowgli. "Men, we're all to go back to the village," Mahakuu told the men. "Shanti, come along. I've been asked to take you back to your home." Then, Mahakuu turned to Mowgli and put his hands on the boy-cub's shoulders. "Mowgli," he sighed. "Good luck!" Every one of the men wished Mowgli good luck, as well. So did Shanti. And with that in mind, they all went back to their village. "Mowgli!" Rajah called out to his son. Mowgli headed towards his father obediently, but with much reluctance.

He stepped into Rajah's shoeprint in the dirt and noticed that because Mowgli had only just turned into a teenager, his father's shoeprints were still significantly larger than his own footprints. Even if Rajah didn't wear shoes, his footprints would still be bigger than Mowgli's. Mowgli just gathered what little courage he had and made his way to his father, Rajah. "You deliberately disobeyed me about the shadow lands," Rajah told him. "I know, Pop," Mowgli responded, ashamed of his temptation in disobedience. "You could've been killed if the jungle leaders, their subjects, the men and I didn't get there in time." Rajah continued further on the matter at hand. "And what's worse, you put Shanti in danger. Do you understand what's at stake here, son? You deliberately placed the entire future of our village in jeopardy," Rajah finished speaking to Mowgli about his escapade.

"I just wanted to show you I was capable of being as brave as you are, dad," Mowgli said, the guilt of now knowing what he did was, in face, wrong weighing heavily in the pit of his stomach. "I'm only brave when I must be, when I have no other choice," Rajah told Mowgli to further help him realize the mistake he made. "Being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble," Rajah said to his son, explaining the true concept of bravery to him. "But, you're never scared of anything, dad," Mowgli said, less than convinced of his father ever being afraid, at all. "I was when you ran away to the jungle in retaliation of being grounded, and I was today, too," Rajah explained that even a parent could get scared. "You were?" Mowgli asked, finally acknowledging the possibility of his own father getting scared. "Yes, I was very afraid that I was going to lose you both of those times," Rajah explained to Mowgli further. "I guess even leaders of their homelands get scared, huh?" Mowgli asked, finally realizing how afraid for his own life he'd selfishly made his own father not once, not twice, but 3 times in one lifetime.

No parent should ever have to fear for their own child's life even twice in one lifetime. "More than you could ever know, Mowgli," Rajah told his eldest blood-related son. "But, you know what, Pop?" Mowgli asked his father. "What?" Rajah asked in response to Mowgli's own quizzical statement. "I think that once you and all the others from the village and jungle came running in to mine and Shanti's rescue, all the banished ones were even scared-er," Mowgli told Rajah what he thought of when that happened. "That's because no one messes with any of us as a team," Rajah told Mowgli, only now just happy to have his eldest son safe and sound. "Come here, you." Rajah and Mowgli played around with one another and laughed along with each other for a bit after this talk was over and done with.

It all lasted all the way back to their village. By the time father and eldest son made it back, mother and youngest son were both waiting for the two of them at the village gate. They all had a clear view of the night sky within the village. "You and Ranjan go back to the house, my dear Messua," Rajah told his beloved wife consort. "Mowgli and I will join the two of you in few moments." He and Mowgli looked up at the stars within the night sky. "I think that the night sky from the village was always my favorite part of when I first came to live in the village," Mowgli told his father.

Realizing that he was actually from that village originally, he corrected himself. "Oops, sorry, dad," Mowgli apologized for his mistake. "I meant when I returned to the village after living in the jungle all those years." But, Rajah was a patient father and understood what Mowgli meant. "It's alright, son. I know," Rajah said, having forgiven Mowgli by then. "Hey, pop, you're my friend, right?" Mowgli asked his biological father. "Right?" Rajah chuckled. "And we'll always be together no matter what, won't we?" Mowgli asked further. Rajah didn't know how to his son's question in honesty without hurting Mowgli's feelings. Then, Rajah remembered the way his own father told him about this matter when he was Mowgli's age. "Mowgli, let me tell you a secret my father once told me when I was young," Rajah told his eldest son. "Look at the stars within the night sky. The great leaders of the past, both of the village and the jungle's pasts, look down on us from those stars."

"Really?" Mowgli asked. "Yes," Rajah said. "So whenever you feel alone, know that those leaders will always be up there, in the stars, to guide you, and so will I." Mowgli was confused by this for a certain reason. "But, I can't see any of them, dad," Mowgli said, voicing his confusion. "Keep looking, Mowgli. Keep looking," Rajah told his son. "If not with your eyes, then with your heart." Mowgli felt them in his heart. "I can see them in my heart," he told Rajah. Then, they headed inside where Messua and Ranjan awaited them, and the whole family went off to bed.


	8. The Meeting Between Two Evils

Meanwhile beyond the borders of even the jungle, back in the jungle animal graveyard, a father/son duo of evil men were coming into the land of certain death with only their torches as a light source. While the hyenas and the jackals busy tending to their wounds from the two battles they had with the villagers and the jungle animals, Kaa, the python snake, was disrupting their recovery. "I can't believe how sssssssssstrong they all were together when they worked together assssssssssss a team," the serpent hissed. "Their teamwork wasssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssso muccccccch sssssssssssstronger than our own brute forccccccce." Tabaqui and Khuhaali were especially angry with the snake for invading their space. "Could you just please give us hyenas some personal space?" Tabaqui asked Kaa. "The jackals, too, you silly serpent?" Khuhaali asked on behalf of his own species. "Ssssssssssssssssilly sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssserpent?" Kaa questioned, realizing that he needed to leave them all alone now. "Oh, alright, I won't take any away from you two. Or you, my royal tiger family," Kaa said to the jackals and hyenas and then, deciding to bother the royal family of their new lands. "You would do well to keep your distance from me and my cubs, Kaa," the matriarchal tigress known formally as Khannee told the python, holding her claws out at his eyes.

Kaa's hypnosis ability was always his greatest asset to getting his lunch just before he was banished from the jungle for his lackluster restraint and disregard for the laws of the jungle. So, the snake decided to go back to bothering the jackals and hyenas against both parties' wishes. "Don't get me wrong, you are all sssssssssssssssssssssssssssso ssssssssssssssstrong, too," Kaa told all of the other banished ones. "But, the men from the village, with the red flower, and the animalsssssssssssssssssssssss from all around the jungle working assssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss an army againsssssssssssssssssssssssssst all of ussssssssssss were, like, way ssssssssssssssssssssssstrong." They were all getting more and more upset that Kaa felt the sudden need to remind them of their defeat at the hands of humans and weaker animals than themselves just because that army had strength in numbers and teamwork on their side. "Now, it's clear that the stupid snake is reminding us of this on purpose, mother," said Buldeo in spite. His twin sister, Shakaani, was just as spiteful about Kaa at that moment as her brother was. Khannee was even more spiteful towards Kaa's words of a painful truth than her own cubs were at that moment.

Tabaqui and his hyenas, along with Khuhaali and his jackals were very annoyed with the snake pointing this out, but it Tabaqui's mate among the hyenas named Kuuhakee who finally snapped at Kaa. "Next time any one of us sees any of the village humans or the animals from that jungle, I say we all teach them a lesson they won't soon forget," Kuuhakee told the serpent, having had it with him pointing out what every last one of them already knew. "Well, we're in luck, my comradessssssssssss," Kaa told them all. "Two humanssssssssssssss are coming out of that fogbank over there to the wessssssssstern direction, right now."

Khuhaali's mate under the name Malaanko noticed the humans, too. "Rajah?" she questioned out to the fogbank. But, neither one of the humans was the leader of the man-village. It was the village leader's cousin, Talal, renamed after the scar over his left eye, and his son, Tajima. "That's not the village leader," Buldeo said about this visit. "Neither one of them is," Shakaani added to her twin brother's claim. Scar approached them all first, followed by Tajima. "You imbeciles have all stripped this land of every bit of life that was here at one point or another, and yet I send two children-cubs your way, and both of them come back to our village alive and unharmed," Tajima revealed the products of his own plan to do away with Mowgli in disappointment at all of them. "I guesssssssssss we'll all jusssssssssssst have to eat you and your father, insssssssstead," Kaa hissed at them, voicing everyone's desire at revenge against the jungle animals, Rajah, and the rest of the villagers.

But, after Mowgli and Shanti came back to the village alive, Scar and Tajima finally collaborated on one final attempt at a plan to get rid of Mowgli, once and for all. "Why have just one meal, when you could all be feasting your whole entire lives?" Scar asked all the banished ones in an attempt at reasoning with them. Khannee halted all the banished ones' attempts to eat these men if only to find out where they were both going with this. She stepped forward towards Scar and Tajima to ask them about the deal they had the apparent desire to make with her subjects. "What could the two of you possibly offer any of us, if not all of us?" Khannee asked. "A place where you could fill your stomachs to evil, little hearts' content," Scar started. "And where everything the light of the sun touches and shines upon is yours for the kill," Tajima finished for his father. "The village and the jungle surrounding it are not either one of yours to give," Buldeo said, correcting them on their own offer. "The village leader and the leaders from all over the jungle control those hunting grounds," Shakaani helped her twin brother correct the two of them on what they were offering. "Rajah's control over the red flower gives him the most power of those lands," Khannee said, reminding the father/son duo that their cousin might as well have been in charge of it all, despite only using it during the night and in battle.

But, Scar and his son, Tajima, had other plans for the red flower when they would usurp the throne of the village leader from Rajah and his heir, Mowgli. "I know, my dear Khannee," said Scar, knowing full well how much stronger than him his cousin, Rajah, was. "And, that's why we're going to kill him, along with his eldest son, Mowgli," Tajima finished off for his father. Suddenly, the banished ones were all intrigued, yet still confused at the evil father/son duo's visit. "Rajah has always shown too much restraint, whether it came to hunting or the use of the red flower," Scar told them all, climbing onto a nearby ledge to emphasize his point. "When I am the leader of the man-village, the powerful will free to take whatever they want with no limitations," Scar said, advertising his message to the banished ones further. "Because your bellies are never truly full," Tajima added to his father's claim, joining him up on his ledge.

"Rajah's far too powerful as leader to challenge and has too many alliances with the leaders around all the areas of the jungle," Khannee told the two of them, knowing that they stood little to no chance of taking down their own cousin. Scar and Tajima began a song in an attempt to changes all the banished ones' minds. "Rajah is yesterday's message," Scar started. "A clapped, distracted regime whose failings have undoubtedly presaged the need for different dream," he finished. "Yes, man-village times are a-changing," Tajima pressed on with their song, making it a father/son duet. "Which means that banished ones must do," Scar added to their song for effect. "Our vision is clear and wide-ranging," Tajima sang further. "And even encompasses you," Tajima sang some more, pointing out towards all of the banished ones. "So, prepare for the coup of the millennium," Scar sang, signifying that even the title 'coup of the century' wasn't anywhere near good enough to describe his and Tajima's collaborative plan to stage a coup de tait. "Prepare for the murkiest scam," Tajima shouted as he sang the verse. "Meticulous planning," Scar sang. "Tenacity spanning," Tajima sang, adding to his father's lyrics. "Decades of denial is simply why I'll be leader" Scar sang. "Undisputed, respected, saluted, and seen for the wonders we are," Tajima added to this.

Then, their song together truly became a duet as they both began to sing together. "Yes, our guns and ambitions are bared, be prepared," Father and son both sang. Every last one of the banished finally understood their plan and started to sing along with the evil father and son duo, even the matriarchal tigress, Khannee, and her twin teenage tigers, Buldeo and Shakaani. "Be prepared," they all sang over and over with Scar and Tajima. "Yes, our claws and ambitions are bared," all of the banished sang, finally having their own chorus. "BE PREPARED," Father Scar and Son Tajima joined in with the chorus of banished animals from atop the highest ledge available in the dead landscape.


	9. A Tragedy for All

The next morning, Mowgli was walking with his Uncle Scar and Cousin Tajima in the jungle's deepest chasm in the grasslands not very far from the part of the jungle in which the man-village resided. Mowgli was completely unaware that the grassland above that chasm was where the water buffalo and the water bucks of the jungle came to graze. All that was on his mind was how he hurt his own father's feeling all those times, and never even knew about it until now. "My pop was pretty upset with me for running off to the shadows, yesterday," he said innocently, just like a child-cub would.

"That's why we've come to this chasm, Cousin Mowgli," Tajima told his young cousin, only he was feigning as much innocence as his heartless father, Scar, was. "I think I know just the way you can make it up to my cousin, Rajah," Scar told his cousin's son. "A gift that will make your adoptive, and later reveal as biological, father forget it ever even happened," Scar pressed his innocent nephew on.

"What do you mean, Uncle Scar?" Mowgli asked. "What could I have to give my own father?" he asked his uncle further. "Your voice of leadership," Scar insisted. "What does Uncle Scar mean by my voice of leadership, Cousin Tajima?" Mowgli asked his older cousin of over 6 years. "My father means you can practice your shouts here. Your shouts of proclamation which will signify your leadership when you take over for Uncle Rajah," Tajima said, wrapping his arm around Mowgli and gesturing to entire chasm with other arm.

Tajima, himself, didn't really think of Mowgli's father as his own uncle; but, he called Rajah 'uncle' because he knew calling the village leader by that family term would earn his gullible, little cousin's trust and help further the collaborative plan he and his own father, Scar, came up with to get rid of the boy. "My voice of leadership, huh?" Mowgli asked as innocently as ever. "YES!" Tajima shouted in demonstration. Tajima's voice echoed off the walls surrounding the chasm. "Did you hear that from my own son?" Scar asked Mowgli.

Mowgli seemed closer to getting what his Uncle Scar and Cousin Tajima were getting at with what they were telling him. "This chasm in the grasslands is where all of the village leaders of the past came to find their voice of leadership," Tajima said, furthering the intentional misleading of his naïve cousin, Mowgli. "All the village leaders?" Mowgli asked curiously. "And some leaders from all around the jungle also came here, whether it wolves to find their greatest howl or leopards, tigers, and bears to find their roars," Tajima continued to lie through his teeth to poor Mowgli, who was less than suspicious of what the two of them really had in mind for him in this chasm. "Even my birth father?" Mowgli inquired further. "Yes, my Cousin Rajah found his voice of leadership here, as well," Scar told the boy-cub, furthering his and Tajima's mouths full of nothing but lies. "When he was around your age, my dearest Nephew Mowgli," Scar told Mowgli further, the nephew part only to gain his trust. "Cousin Rajah refused to leave until his voice of leadership could be heard above the rim of this very chasm."

"All the way up there at the top?" Mowgli inquired to them, worried that he wouldn't be able to do it. "That's when you know you've found your voice of leadership, Mowgli," Tajima falsely explained to his own cousin. "You'll never be called a child-cub, again," Scar told the boy. "Watch this, you two," Mowgli told them. "Rawr," he shouted weakly. "You'll get there eventually," Tajima told Mowgli, rubbing his left hand over his cousin's head as a falsified gesture of familial affection. He was actually momentarily grabbing onto Mowgli's head by his hair the way an abusive family member would and simply disguised it as a gesture of loving familial affection. "It just takes some time to truly perfect, Mowgli," Scar added as soon as Tajima let go of his cousin's hair, reminding himself over and over again in the very core of his brain that it wasn't the time to take his hatred out on young Mowgli. 'If this fails, we'll simply get the banished ones to kill Mowgli,' Tajima thought to himself, reminding himself that he couldn't act on any possible impulse. "We'll check on you once we get Uncle Rajah," Tajima told Mowgli, coming back from within his own mind. He and his father, Scar, started to head off. "Pop'll be so proud of me when I finally master the technique," Mowgli said, innocently unaware of his own uncle and older cousin's real plan for him in the chasm. "It's a gift from son to father Cousin Rajah is sure to never forget," Scar commented on Mowgli's naivety in the matter.

Later, the scene came to the banished ones' end of the plan. Kaa, the snake, was starting to get impatient for them to move toward the potential prey in the water buffalo. "I'm jusssssssssssssst sssssssssssso hungry, Khannee, your majesssssssssssssssssty," Kaa told the matriarchal tigress sovereign of their lands in the jungle animal graveyard. "I ssssssssssssimply musssssssssssst eat a water buffalo, or even a buck," the snake spoke up again, starving out of his mind. "Please, your highnesssssssssssssssssssssssesssssssssssss, my sssssssssssssstomach issssssssssssssssss eating itssssssself," the python continued to express his hunger in complete and total agony. "No, you silly snake," Shakaani told the starving reptile in a threatening manner. "I know my hyenas and I don't usually make a habit of taking the constricting snake's side," Tabaqui started on behalf of his pack, then continued. "but, I think the idiotic python has a point this time. Here our lands' entire population is practically surrounded by things we can eat, and we can't even hunt them." Khuhaali and his jackals agreed with Kaa for the first time since being banished from the jungle, as well. "Yeah, can't any of us just hunt even one of the buffalo or the bucks that are either sick or old?" Khuhaali asked the family of tiger monarchs who ruled the dead lands beyond the jungle's borders. "Not on your life, ever!" Buldeo growled at them all. "We've been over this, my loyal subjects," Khannee told them all. "We wait for the signal from Scar and Tajima, and then it's go time." Luckily, the starving former residents of the jungle animal graveyard didn't have any longer to wait because Scar and Tajima came into view, and Scar gave them all his thumbs up then down signal, initiating that plan to kill Rajah and Mowgli would now be in effect. "There they are, and Scar gave the signal, like he said he would," Buldeo pointed out to them all. "You're all just lucky we didn't have to wait too much longer," Shakaani added to her brother, Buldeo's, claim, stating the banished ones should be grateful for at least that much. "Enough talking about it," Khannee told everyone. "Now is the time for action. Let's go, everyone."

Meanwhile, Mowgli was having a little trouble with his voice of leadership, as his Uncle Scar and Cousin Tajima called it. "Little leader, puh," Mowgli spat bitterly at the fact that he still had a long way to go before he could fully master his own voice of leadership. That's when he noticed a young monitor lizard hunting a nearby spider. The young monitor lizard won by simply using it's own forked tongue to eat up the spider. Mowgli decided he'd found the perfect creature to test his bear roar on. That would be a sure-fire way to find his own voice of leadership, since next to tigers, bears were probably the toughest, strongest animals he knew in the jungle. "Rawr," Mowgli's bear roar still came out a bit on the weak side, because the young monitor lizard barely heard or noticed him. "RAWR!" he tried again a bit harder and louder this time. It made the young monitor lizard hear him, because the smaller-than-him reptile turned his face to Mowgli, but then turned its face right back and refused to acknowledge the man-cub any further. Mowgli decided to try one final time to make this lizard acknowledge him. So, he built up his vocal cords and let out his biggest bear roar yet. "RRRRRRAWR!" he let out finally scaring the lizard child enough to make it scram away from him. Mowgli felt triumphant at the feat he just now had with his own voice of leadership when he noticed his bear roar echo off the rim of the jungle's grassland chasm. But, that feeling of triumph didn't last long because Mowgli started to hear rumbling from the sides then the rim of the chasm. It was a joint stampede of water buffalo and water bucks, both of which had incredibly deadly hooves as Mowgli already knew. Both species of hoofed animal were coming in fast from the northern rim of the chasm.

Mowgli decided he needed to run for dear life, now. What he didn't see or realize was that all of the banished ones, hired by his own cousin and uncle to bring an end to his life, were the ones behind it. The stampeding of these animals with fatally dangerous hooves only looked like Mowgli did it to himself. He didn't realize the water buffalo and the water bucks were stampeding in a panic from the residents of the dead lands in the jungle animal graveyard he foolishly visited only the day before. As soon as the stampede was afoot and their allies' plan was in motion, the sovereign tiger family of the dead lands stood atop a ledge from just close enough to the with their subjects watching the plan to rid themselves of Mowgli unfold. They laughed in unison at the naivety of the man-cub that all of them once feared and/or hated because of all the friends he had in the jungle and his father being the leader of the village the jungle surrounded. Mowgli knew he couldn't outrun these animals forever. They could all run on all 4 legs, while he could only run on two. He knew there was also no time to run away to the side. So, he settled on running under a nearby ledge for protection. Mowgli crouched down after he barely managed to escape the deadly hoofed animals.

Meanwhile, Rajah and Councilman Mahakuu were in the middle of discussing further peace between the villagers and the jungle animals near the village gates, when Scar and his son, Tajima, ran to the village and alerted Mowgli's father to his situation and whereabouts. Rajah had no idea they were the very cause of it. "Cousin Rajah, stampede of bucks and buffalo in the grassland chasm," Scar told the village leader. "Cousin Mowgli's down there, Uncle Rajah," Tajima told him further, both him and his father feigning concern for his younger cousin's life. "Mowgli," Rajah said, openly voicing his genuine fear and concern for his eldest son's life. "I'll look for him," said Mahakuu. "We'll help with that, friend to our friend," Flaps, the vulture, said; as such he and his fellow vultures let the small man grab onto their feet. "You'll need some muscle-type of help in saving Little Britches, your leadership," Baloo told Mowgli's father. "I can help with this, too," said Bagheera. "We'll all lend our assistance," said Akela, despite his age and injuries. "You can't, Akela," Rama told his pack's alpha. "Not with your limping injury," Mowgli's wolf father further insisted. "What kind of alpha wolf would I be, Rama, if I abandoned my pack to help save the man-cub without me?" Akela asked him, never one to back down when any friend or ally needed him. "Just be careful, Grandfather," Kisari said, finally growing a sense of humility and modesty… or enough of one to deter her grandfather from being as reckless as she was. "I look to you still for the guidance I need to lead our pack, someday," Kisari finally confided in Akela. "I can't make any promises that I won't be reckless," Akela said in honesty, knowing full well that he also couldn't promise the man-village's leader what state he would see his own blood-related eldest son in.

Meanwhile, back with Mowgli, he ran out from under the ledge just far enough to make it into a small tree in an attempt at simply climbing to safety, or at least as safe as he could get at the moment. But unfortunately for Mowgli, the tree was very shaky as the buffalo and bucks continued to run past it. He cried out in fear as the tree kept being shaken by the hoofed animals, desperately terrified that their shaking could break the tree. Mahakuu and the vultures made it down to Mowgli's tree. "Mahakuu, vultures, help me," Mowgli cried out to them, scared to death for his own life. "Hold on, little friend," Dizzy, the vulture, told the boy. "Help is coming, kid," Flaps told Mowgli. "Your father is on his way with every one of the jungle's leaders and the Seeonee wolf pack aiding with your rescue, young master," Mahakuu told an unimaginably scared Mowgli. "Hurry! This tree isn't too stable and won't hold me for long," Mowgli told them, clearly terrified-out-of-his-loin-cloth. The vultures headed back up close to the rim, all hanging onto Mahakuu, to where Rajah, Akela and the other leaders were desperately searching for Mowgli. "There he is, your leadership," Mahakuu said as soon as the vultures landed him safely next to Rajah, Scar and Tajima on the ledge. "Down on that tree." They all saw the scene clearly. "We can fly back down to get him," Buzzie, the head vulture, said. "But, the rate the tree is cracking, your leadership, we don't if we can get to him in time, sir," Flaps told him. "I'll save my son on my own if I have to," Rajah said in response, letting it be known that he simply had to have Mowgli safe and sound, once and for all. "You can't be serious, sir," Baloo told Rajah, trying to stop the village leader before he was in as much danger as Mowgli was at that moment, knowing that even nowadays, Mowgli still can't stand even the thought of losing someone he loved. But, it had no avail because Rajah valued Mowgli's protection over his own. "He's eldest blood-related son," Rajah said, justifying his recklessness. "Mowgli's safety, protection, and his life all hold precedence over my own. If I die saving him this time around, make sure Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan and the rest of the village stay protected, and let my dear wife, Messua, know I love her," Rajah told the panther and bear, saying what he could sense were going to his final words to his son's best friends of the jungle. "I'm coming, Mowgli!" Rajah shouted to his son, quickly making his way down to base of the chasm. "Hold on!" Rajah jumped down to base and made it onto a buffalo's back.

"All of you, get the rest of the village and any jungle animal you can recruit to aid my nephew's rescue," Scar told Mahakuu and every one of the jungle leaders. "We'll offer them whatever help we can," Tajima staged a reassuring voice to Baloo and Bagheera. Unfortunately, they all believed the father/son duo simply because they were Mowgli's uncle and cousin. With much struggling to stay in sync with the way the stampede was while still trying to make to his son's tree in time, Rajah finally managed to rescue Mowgli. "Dad!" Mowgli shouted to Rajah as soon as his father was able to rescue him from the tree just as it fully broke and bring him to a ledge where he firmly believed the boy would remain safe and sound.

But, Rajah could barely save himself from being trampled by a water buck as soon as Mowgli was safe. "DAD!" Mowgli screamed out when Rajah had been pushed away from him. Clearly breaking their word to Mowgli's jungle friends, Scar and Tajima only watched as their plan to rid themselves of the objects of their one-sided rivalry with their own cousins continued to unfold. Poor Mowgli searched everywhere in the stampede for the man who had been confirmed as his birth father not too long ago, and because of it, looked up to as his father and his teacher almost enough to have worshipped the man. Rajah was able to make it out of the stampede in one piece and started to climb back up to the rim with steadfast determination to make it out of the chasm alive. Mowgli followed Rajah up the chasm wall from where he was, wanting to thank his father for rescuing him once more. The only problem with that idea was that Mowgli and his father, Rajah's, own cousins, Scar and Tajima, had other ideas.

By the time Rajah had nearly made to the rim of the chasm, only his cousin, Scar, was there to greet him. "Scar, my cousin, help me!" Rajah begged his own cousin, Scar, to help him, but the only thing Scar did was intentionally step on his own cousin's left hand, which caused Rajah to let go of the rim with only his right hand holding onto the chasm's rim. Tajima pointed his gun at his father's own cousin. "Long live_ the leader," Scar responded, stepping his own cousin's other hand, causing Rajah to fall off, screaming in terror. "You may now pull the trigger, my son," Scar told Tajima, which the young man did. "NOOOOOOO!" Mowgli screamed from his own ledge, watching in horror as the birth father he just reunited with only a year back fell to his death.

Mowgli came back down to the base of the chasm when the stampeding of the water buffalo and the water bucks finally seemed to have stopped, desperately searching for Rajah. He needed to know that his father survived. "Dad?!" Mowgli called out. There was no answer. Rajah had to have survived even a fall like that, he just had to. Rajah was always so scared of losing Mowgli to the hands of death, now it Mowgli's turn to want his father to be safe. "DAD!" Mowgli called out once more, but there was still no answer from Rajah. Mowgli heard something, or someone, coming. "Dad?" Mowgli inquired, hoping to the Gods it was his blood-related father, Rajah.

But no such luck. It was just another water buck that had strayed from the stampede. As Mowgli watched the buck run past him, however, he happened upon Rajah. But, the village leader showed no signs of life, not even breathing. Mowgli ran to Rajah and upon making it to his father, he tried left and right and back and forth to find out what was wrong with him.

"Dad," Mowgli whispered cautiously to Rajah, unable to realize his father had died in his fall… or maybe Mowgli was really unable to accept it as the truth. "Pop?!" Mowgli asked Rajah further, starting to tear up at the thought of the father he just discovered was his actual birth father had died in the man's efforts to save his eldest son. Mowgli tried further to get his father to stop playing possum. "Come on, pop," Mowgli said through the tears that threatened to flow from his eyes. "Wake up." He continued to try to get his father up, but it was proving even further to be a lost cause. "HELP!" Mowgli called out into the distance. "SOMEBODY, HELP!" he continued to call out for help. "ANYBODY, PLEASE HELP!" he called out for it once more. But unfortunately for him, all of Mowgli's cries for help were called out in vain. Mowgli could feel the tears finally stream down his face, as he cuddled up to Rajah in one final attempt to spend time with his actual birth father. As he cuddled up to Rajah, Mowgli finally let his tears flow freely.

Just then, Scar and Tajima came up to the two of them. "My God, Mowgli, what have you done?" Scar asked his cousin's son, knowing they could easily send Mowgli away to later be killed by the banished ones if they blamed him for his own father's death. Mowgli acknowledged his father's cousins appearances. "Th-there was a stampede," Mowgli said through his tears. "My father tried to save me. It was an accident. I didn't mean to_" Mowgli was never able to finish his apology thanks Tajima cutting in. "Of course, you didn't, Mowgli," Tajima told his cousin as Mowgli ran up him and cried into his shirt. "No one ever means for these things to happen," Tajima told the boy in a transparent and completely staged consolation towards his younger cousin.

"However, Mowgli, my dear sweet little nephew, the leader of our village is now dead," Scar said to the boy, confirming the very thing that Mowgli didn't want to believe. "And it weren't for you, my dearest cousin, Rajah, would still be alive." Tajima loyally helped his father in their shared lies to Mowgli. "Uncle Rajah had such hopes for you, dearest Mowgli, gave you so many chances, and this is how you pay him back?" Tajima asked Mowgli, even when knowing the truth behind the stampede and Rajah's death. "I didn't know the buffalo and the bucks went to graze up in that grassland," Mowgli tried to defend his innocence in the matter. "I didn't know."

Tajima continued to rub even more salt into the all-too-fresh wounds to his own innocent little cousin's heart. "Oh, dear, whatever will Aunt Messua think? What will she say? And Cousin Ranjan, who just recently turned 4 years of age; what will he say when he learns the elder brother he adored so much, even back before discovering his familial connection to that brother, took the life of the father they both shared?" Tajima maliciously asked Mowgli. "A son who causes his own father's death?" Scar asked in secret malice. "A child-cub who kills a village leader?" Scar asked, intentionally rubbing more salt than is possible onto his own cousin's son's wounds to the heart. "What do I do, Uncle Scar? Cousin Tajima?" Mowgli innocently inquired to the only ones he felt he could confide in, right now.

"Run," Tajima told his own cousin. "Run away," Tajima told him once more in a stricter tone of voice. "Run away, Mowgli, and never return," Scar yelled at his own cousin's eldest son, finalizing Tajima's point. Mowgli obliged their joint order. He felt it was the least he could do since never obliged Rajah's orders to him when the man was alive.

Just after Mowgli exited the scene, the royal tiger family of the dead lands and all the other banished ones came forth, already knowing exactly what to do expect their only human allies to tell them. "Kill him," Tajima told them. "And make it as painful as possible," Scar added to the order. They all ran after Mowgli, who had no knowledge of them following his father's own cousins' orders.

Mowgli finally noticed the tiger family and the other banished ones were when he made it to a steep cliff with a thorn patch surrounding its base. Mowgli, of course, knew that jumping off the cliff and into the thorn patch was his only route of escape from the banished ones. So, he had no choice but to take it. Mowgli had much motivation to escape from the banished ones. So, he rolled down the cliff and into the thorn patch surrounding its base. Mowgli got a few cuts from the thorn patch, but he continued on, no matter how many times the thorn patch scratched him.

Fortunately for Mowgli, not even the tiger family was motivated to follow their target into the thorn patch, but Tabaqui, the head hyena, and Khuhaali, the lead jackal, accidentally got flung into the thorn by their own people. Even Kaa, the snake, was laughing at the two of them until they came back up the cliff. Buldeo and Shakaani noticed that Mowgli escaped the thorn patch in one piece and headed as far away from them as possible. "Hey, hey, HEY! There he goes, there he goes," Buldeo said, voicing what he and twin sister both noticed. Tabaqui and Khuhaali started to pick thorns out of their butts. "So, go get him already, you twin tigers," Tabaqui told Buldeo and Shakaani. "There's no way my brother, my mother, nor I are going into that thorn patch," Shakaani said in response to being ordered around by her own subject. "What?! Do you want any of us to come out like the two of you, cactus butts?" Buldeo taunted them.

Tabaqui spat out the thorns he had removed onto poor Kaa's nose. "But, we gotta finish the job," Khuhaali reminded the family of tigers, as Kaa rubbed his sore nose. "It matters not, my cubs and my subjects," Khannee told them. "Mowgli is as good as dead out there anyway, even without us all killing him," she reasoned with them. "We'll just Scar and Tajima we ate him," Buldeo said in response his mother's reasoning. "And, he ever does come back even to the jungle, we'll kill him," Shakaani reassured the other banished ones. "Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss, your exccccccccccellenccccccccccies," Kaa hissed in respond to Shakaani reassurance, and Buldeo's plans on what they tell their human allies. "Yeah, ya hear that, you child-cub?" Tabaqui yelled out to the direction Mowgli was going. "If you ever come back, we'll all kill ya," Khuhaali yelled, finishing up his friend's comment to Mowgli, who was now several miles away from them by now.


	10. Funeral of Vanity

Back at the village, everyone was being informed of all that happened in the grassland's chasm. Even the other leaders from all around the jungle had gather at the man-village to hear of the fate of both Mowgli and his biological father, Rajah. "Rajah's death is truly a tragedy," Scar spoke his what everyone else saw as his true thoughts, except his son, Tajima, and himself. "The greatest leader our village has ever known. To lose my own cousin who was just like a brother to me… such a deep personal loss," Scar concluded his words for his cousin's make shift funeral. "And my younger cousin, little Mowgli, who had only just found out his adoptive parents and his birth were one in the same, a child-cub whose blood held the future of the village… it's almost too much to endure," Tajima said voicing his own mock grief. "I only wish that my son and I had gotten to the chasm in time; been there to rescue them," Scar told the villagers, only adding salt to their newly inflicted wounds from the father/son duo's falsified claims.

It was then that Scar and Tajima made the make-shift funeral all about themselves, and named Scar Rajah's successor as the leader of the man-village. "And so it is with heavy hearts that my father and I take on their responsibilities as village leader and crown prince of the village," Tajima said, confirming what they told Messua and Ranjan earlier. "Rajah and Mowlgi are gone." Scar told them. "Now, my father is your leader and I am your crown prince," Tajima said. "But, the two of us cannot bear this burden alone, and we will need some help to protect the village from further intruders," Scar said as the banished ones stepped onto the grounds of the village.

Everyone, whether the villagers or the jungle animals, questioned these methods for the village's protection, especially considering neither Rajah nor Mowgli would've ever even condoned these methods, never mind encouraged them. "Shanti, Ranjan," Messua told the two children-cubs. "Stay close, you two." Shanti remembered Khannee and her cubs. Ranjan never got scared easily, but this was quite unsettling to him. Both of them wished that they could get some help from the animals who still lived in the jungle. But, now that the banished were coming into the village, there was a better chance of a flea infestation becoming the villagers' salvation during this so-called new age.

Meanwhile, Scar and his son, Tajima, continued to turn the funeral of the original village leader into an event that was all about them. "And so, from the ashes of this tragedy, we shall welcome the rise of a new era," Tajima told them all. "A great and glorious future!" Scar yelled out in his proclamation as the village's new leader. The banished ones all cheered for their ideas, but the villagers and the jungle animals who observed them all from afar were quite weary of what such a future held.

Baloo, Bagheera, Akela, and his granddaughter, Kisari, saw the whole situation unfold from the border between the village and the jungle. "Oh dear," Bagheera was the first to voice out such a concern. "You got that right, Baggy," said Baloo, now knowing that there was no turning back in this.

Back within the village, Mahakuu and Kasiim were facing their own issues of belief in any of this being what was best for the village, or the villagers' relationship with the jungle animals. Mahakuu had been demoted from being a member of the village council to the one who was forced to entertain Scar and Tajima or be fed to Khannee and her teenager tiger cubs. Kasiim was having a lousy time with Scar as the leader, too. He had to get rid of his portrait of Mowgli.


	11. An Unintended Rescue and a New Start

Completely unaware of what had really led the banished ones to try to kill him or even what going on in the village and the jungle in his absence/supposed death, Mowgli continued on heading further north away from even the jungle. All of this walking while the guilt of what he was told was his fault still lingering heavily in his mind. Mowgli didn't care anymore whether he was dead or alive, anyway.

Mowgli finally collapsed from his own exhaustion when he had walked for about 70 miles north of the jungle he was familiar with. A flock of buzzards started to circle around him from the skies, not long after he collapsed. They were getting ready to pick his flesh clean, when a couple of wild animals unexpectedly and unintentionally came to his rescue. What the pygmy hog and the mongoose were really after in this endeavor was to try to beat up even one of the buzzards.

But, the entire flock flew away before the pygmy hog could get the chance. "I missed 'em. I swear, one of these days, I will get even one of those buzzards," the pygmy hog said. "You hear me, buzzards? One of these days, one of you will be my punching bag," the pygmy hog continued. "I still don't understand why you need to beat one of them," the mongoose questioned his friend. "I just feel like it would make me feel a bit bigger in size and stronger in stature," the pygmy hog told his mongoose friend.

Suddenly the two of them spotted the collapsed Mowgli, lying the ground just a few feet away from them. "Oh no, it's a man-cub, and I think it's still alive!" the pygmy hog exclaimed. "That is no man-cub, and I'm betting it is dead," the mongoose insisted. "Well, then, what is it?" the pygmy hog asked the mongoose. "It's a featherless bird," the mongoose told the pygmy hog. "Well, if you're so sure it's not a man-cub, go check it out," the pygmy hog insisted. "Let's see what we're dealing with here, then," the mongoose checked Mowgli out for the both of them. "Geez, it's a human!" the mongoose exclaimed in a panic.

The mongoose attempted to make a run for it. The pygmy hog, however, was a little more open-minded to rescuing Mowgli from death. "Oh, come on, Tanra, it's just a human-cub," the pygmy hog told his mongoose friend, Tanra. "Can we keep this man-cub?" the pygmy hog asked Tanra, the mongoose. "Palau, are you insane? Humans eat and/or wear guys like us," Tanra reminded Palau. "But, he's just a cub," Palau insisted. "He's gonna get bigger," Tanra reminded Palau of why they couldn't take Mowgli in even more. "Maybe, he'll be on our side," Palau tried to think of a reason to take him in.

That was when it suddenly hit Tanra about taking Mowgli in, even when Palau thought of the idea first. "I've got it. What if he's on our side?" Tanra said passing off Palau's idea as his own. "You know, having a human around to protect us might not be such a crazy idea, and why not? They have that red flower under their belt, and they pack a mean arsenal of guns," Tanra concluded. "So, we're keeping him?" Palau asked Tanra. "Of course, we're keeping him. Do I really need to remind who the brains of this outfit is?" Tanra questioned.

Mowgli finally woke up and noticed them in return. "Who are you two?" he asked them. "We're the ones who saved your life from buzzards," Tanra told him as soon as he awoke. "Hoards of them, flocks," Palau told him. "I'm Palau, and this is Tanra," the pygmy hog introduced both of them, since Tanra was skittish. "Did I mention that we had saved your life?" Tanra said, nervously trying Mowgli a reason not to kill them for food or fur. "It doesn't matter," Mowgli told them, turning the other way. "Whoa!" Tanra exclaimed, shocked that the man-cub they rescued, albeit unintentionally, would say something like it in response to being rescued.

Palau and Tanra couldn't believe they were being thanked with indifference and self-loathing by this man-cub. "It doesn't even matter?" Palau questioned his actions. "How's that for bleak?" Tanra stated in the form of his own question. "He looks kinda blue for a man-cub," Tanra added to his statement. "I'd say a dark shade of brownish tan," Palau said about Mowgli, not understanding what Tanra meant. "Better add a messy shade of black to that for his hair, and a more vibrant red for his loincloth," Palau said, further describing Mowgli's apparent physical appearance. "I meant he looks like he's down on his luck by 'he looks blue'," Tanra told Palau, being more specific this time.

Tanra was exasperated that this kid seemed to be unhappy for one reason or another. "So, what's eating you, kid?" he asked Mowgli. "I did something terrible. I don't wanna talk about it," Mowgli responded back to them. "Look, kid, we've all made mistakes, right? There must be something we can do to make you feel better," Palau offered. "Not unless you can change the past," Mowgli told him and Tanra. "Wow, kid, that's a lot to ask," Tanra admitted the truth to Mowgli. "You can't really change the past because it already happened," Palau followed up with Tanra admission of the truth.

They were right about trying to change the past, and the even had something in mind to help him start anew. "But, do you know what you can change?" Tanra asked Mowgli. "I don't know. What?" Mowgli asked. "The future!" Tanra exclaimed excitedly to Mowgli, trying to get him see the bright side. "It's our specialty, kid," Palau helped Tanra advertise the possibility.

Mowgli was now confused by what this animal oddball duo of friends was telling him. "But, how can you change something that hasn't happened, yet?" Mowgli asked them. "Well, to change your future," Tanra began. "you gotta put your past behind you," Palau finished for the both of them. "Thanks a lot, Palau," Tanra told the pygmy hog, a bit peeved by the interruption. "You're welcome," Palau said, unaware that his mongoose friend was somewhat mad at him right then and there. "Look, kid, sometimes bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it, right?" Tanra asked Mowgli.

Mowgli just answered him with a confirmation of 'right' "Wrong!" Tanra said, correcting Mowgli's response. "When the world turns its back on you, you turn your on the world," Tanra told him further about their ways of dealing. "And only embrace what's next," Palau added for a bit of good measure. "And turn the 'what' into a 'so what'," Tanra told Mowgli, putting the cherry on top of his and Palau's philosophical sundae.

Mowgli was unsure about this. "Well, that's nothing like what I was ever taught," he told them. "Then maybe, you're in need of a new life lesson, my friend," Tanra told him. They taught Mowgli all about their philosophy. They brought him to their home, they introduced to all their friends; it was quite an experience Mowgli eventually grew into. Before he knew it (before any one of them knew it, actually), eight years had passed by, and Mowgli grew into a strong, handsome 21-year-old man.


	12. Everything Around Us in Imminent Danger

Back at Mowgli's original homelands in the jungle and even further into the village, Scar, Tajima, and the banished were all overhunting. The jungle's lands were threatened by all of this overhunting that the banished ones were doing with Scar and his son, Tajima. Bagheera and Baloo were coming up to the village even though they were no longer welcome there under the rules made by Scar and Tajima. They had only arrived in the village to give a status report of the jungle's lands to Messua, Ranjan, and the rest of the village.

Bagheera and Baloo still approached the village with caution. Shanti was waiting for them to arrive with at the village gates. "Come inside quickly, you two," Shanti told the panther and the sloth bear. And to think, she once believed that the jungle was only place to fear. "Alright, Lady Messua, Ranjan, our newscasters are here," Shanti told Mowgli's mother and brother, who was now almost a teenager. Shanti, herself, had turned 21 recently.

Messua asked for the report from the panther and the bear. "M'lady Messua, it's worse than it's ever been before," Bagheera informed the village. "Continue your report, you two," she told them. "The jungle is imminent danger," Bagheera continued. "Herds are running off," Baloo started. "The onslaught is continuing. At this rate, the jungle's lands will be reduced to nothing more than memory from the past," Bagheera told from his side of the report. "It's a massacre of the jungle," Baloo stated in addition to Bagheera's end of it.

Shanti suddenly had an idea. "Someone should go look for help, anyone the village or the jungle can send off," she told the rest of the village. She wasn't wrong, but Messua refused to leave the village, at all. The wife consort of the village's former leader also wanted no one else to leave. "We stay together, Shanti, and protect our home," Messua told them all.

Shanti was too unhappy with how things were now to want to protect what little was left of their home. "This isn't the home I remember," Shanti said. "Someone needs to do something about this," she couldn't take this lying down, anymore. "Patience, Shanti, our time will come," Messua told the girl, convinced that it still could. "Scar and his son, Tajima, are still the leaders of our village," Messua reminded them all. "But, you-you are the wife consort of this village," Shanti reminded Messua that she still had some power over what would happen in the village.

It was right then and there that the Buldeo and Shakaani; the tiger twins of Shere Khan and his mate, Khannee; noticed Baloo and Bagheera. "The bear and the panther are back," Buldeo shouted. He and his twin sister chased Bagheera and Baloo off. "And, don't ever come back to grounds of the man-village unless you feel like being the leader's new fur coats," Shakaani told them as they ran out of the village.

After that, the now aging tigress mate of Shere Khan, Khannee, had come to Messua and Ranjan's house. "M'lady Messua, the leader requests an audience with you," Khannee told Messua. Ranjan became worried about his mother. "Don't go, mom," Ranjan tried to convince Messua to stay away from Scar and Tajima. "I'm not afraid of them, Ranjan," she told him, bending down to his face and cupping her younger son's chin in her fingers reassuringly.

Messua started to head for the door to her house; when on her way out, she stopped near Shanti. "Please, keep my remaining son safe, Shanti," she requested from the girl. Although Shanti complied to protecting Ranjan, when Khannee strode past them along with Scar and Tajima, Shanti still feared the matriarchal tigress of the royal family in from the dead lands. The fear the young woman still had of the matriarchal tigress was very evident in the way the two females looked at one another. "Please, don't go to them, Messua," Shanti tried one more time for Ranjan.

But, Messua continued to go to Scar and Tajima, anyway. "I'm not afraid of Scar or Tajima," she told the rest of the villagers. On her way to the reigning father/son duo of leaders in the village, the banished ones all attempted to take a bite or two at Messua, Kaa especially. "Serpent!" Scar yelled at Kaa. "You will not be eating the wife consort of the former leader," Tajima added, knowing full well what his father summoned the woman for.

Messua continued with her approach of the current leader of the village and his son. "Won't you join Tajima and I, Messua?" Scar asked the consort woman. "There's plenty to go around," Tajima helped his father's attempt to reel Messua in. "You, your son, and the banished ones," Messua began. "you're all overhunting," she finished, rejecting his offer. "We have simply perfected the art of the kill," Scar told her in defiance. "Our army is simply aiding us," Tajima told her.

Messua was still not impressed by Scar and Tajima's showing off. "You're killing everything in the jungle," she said, knowing full well that Rajah wouldn't condone **any** of these methods in ruling the village, and Mowgli _**definitely**_ wouldn't condone these methods. "Don't you see, Messua?" Scar asked her, although it was less of a question and more of a statement. "There's nobody to challenge Tajima, or even myself. We three can finally take whatever we want," Scar said to Messua, confirming where Tajima already knew his father was going with this summons.

Messua, though, was confused by Scar's statement. "'We three'?" she asked them, quoting from Scar's statement. "Long ago, you chose Rajah over me," Scar told Messua. "But, now there is a new leader, a new rule, and a new order. So, stop being so selfish," Scar continued, and then continued to eat with Tajima. "You are the selfish ones," Messua told them. "The other villagers look to you," Tajima said. "As long as you resist, they will all reject Tajima and I," Scar reminded Messua further on the subject. "Take your rightful place beside my father, m'lady," Tajima told her. "Be my wife consort, dear Messua," Scar requested of Messua. "I will never be your consort, Scar," Messua said, standing her ground.

Messua and her remaining son, Ranjan, would stay loyal to Rajah and Mowgli until they, themselves, had joined their family in death. "Very well, then," Scar told her. "Be as stubborn as you wish," he continued.

Then, Scar and Tajima walked away from the meal they just killed and cooked up on the red flower's open flames. "Just know you brought this on yourself and the other villagers; because from now on, the ones from the dead lands past the jungle's eastern borders will eat **before** the villagers," Tajima told Messua what she had done to everyone in her stubborn loyalty to her husband and her eldest son. "and the hyenas don't leave much behind, and the snake swallows **his** kill whole," Tajima finished.

The banished ones started to flock to the kill following this new rule from Scar and his son, Tajima. Just as Tajima told Messua, Tabaqui and his hyenas were chowing down like crazy with Khuhaali and his jackals on one of the kills. The tiger family ate their own kill together, while Kaa simply swallowed the last kill whole. Messua backed away from them while they all stripped the kills clean.

That night, Shanti wandered around the village to try to get away and search anywhere she could to find help. It wasn't going to be easy because the village gates were being guarded not only by Scar and Tajima as they slept in their **new** hut near the village entrance. The gates were also guarded by the tiger family, the hyenas, the jackals, and Kaa, the python snake. Even with the heavy guarding at the gate, Shanti was determined to leave and search for help wherever she could find it.

Shanti made sure to keep as hidden as possible from the hyena and jackal guards on her way to the village entrance. She also kept hidden from Kaa whenever he would come around. Shanti kept especially hidden from the tiger family, still haunted by memories of what the banished ones almost did to her and Mowgli as children in her darkest nightmares.

Shanti was almost at the village gates when Baloo and Bagheera noticed her and tried to stop her. She was just thankful that it was Mowgli's bear and panther friends who noticed her leaving and not one of the banished ones. "Just what do you think are doing, young lady?" Baloo whispered to her. "M'lady Messua may be OK with waiting around, but I'm not," Shanti told the bear as quietly as possible. "I'm going to search for help, whether she's OK with it or not," she finished. "Just go away, you two." But, they followed after her, anyway.

Bagheera and Baloo weren't going to let Shanti leave without permission. "We will very much not go away, my dear," Bagheera whispered. "Baggy's right," the bear started to stay. "We promised Little Britches we would always protect you from any danger," Baloo finished. "Now, we must order you back to bed, Shanti," Bagheera told her. "I don't need protecting, you two," Shanti insisted. "I'm not a child-cub anymore," she told them, stubborn in her decision to leave the village for a journey for help.

Shanti was talking the talk very well with the sentiment of being an adult now. But when she saw that Tajima was at the village's entrance with Khannee, the tigress matriarch, she couldn't find the courage or the confidence to walk the walk in the sentiment. Khannee seemed to smell Shanti from where the young woman was. She headed toward Shanti's location with Tajima in tow.

Shanti considered going back to her village hut, but Buldeo and Shakaani were guarding the way back. She was trapped. Shanti had no choice but to face her fears and try to get the jump on them all, even knowing she had no chance against even her fellow human, Tajima. She waited behind the nearest hut to the entrance.

It was then and there that Baloo and Bagheera came up with a plan of diversion. "Um, hiya, Tajima, tiger family," Baloo greeted them with his part of the distraction. "So nice to see all four of you. Sorry to crash the party, but," Baloo tried to finish his part, but the tiger family wouldn't hear it. Bagheera attempted to aid Baloo with his end. "Did I ever you about my brother who thought **he** was a tig_" Bagheera started to talk about his own family, but he and Baloo were chased out of the village, anyway.

The bear and the panther's distraction gave Shanti enough time to finally make it out of the village. Messua and Ranjan noticed Shanti leave the village from where they were. "Shanti," Messua said, wondering how the girl could live with herself leaving the village.


	13. Ranjan and Mahakuu's Misery

Shanti and the jungle animals weren't the only ones rendered miserable thanks to Mowgli's supposed death in the chasm, that day. Later from within the village, Mahakuu was seen being forced to sing to Scar and Tajima. "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen," Mahakuu sang in misery. "Nobody knows my sorrow," he sang more of the song, his depression being relentless.

Unfortunately for him, Tajima was getting sick of hearing this song for the past 8 years. "Oh, shut up and lighten up, will ya, Mahakuu?" Tajima ordered more than requested, and he threw a coconut at Mahakuu's face, giving the poor, little man a black eye in the process. Ranjan rushed to Mahakuu's side and helped him up. "Please, do sing something sunnier, Mahakuu," Scar ordered the little man. "Either that, or you're the banished ones' lunch," Tajima threatened him.

Mahakuu obeyed his new masters and tried a happier song. "It's a small world after all," Mahakuu tried, but with an unsettling result from Scar and Tajima. "NO! NO!" Tajima yelled. "Anything but that!" Tajima threatened further, pulling out his gun at Mahakuu.

Mahakuu looked at what the new young master had hit him with. Suddenly, he knew just what song to sing to his new masters. "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, dee-dee-dee-dee," Mahakuu sang for them. "There they are all, standing in a row." Then, Scar and Tajima started to sing along to the song. "Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head," They all sang together.

Mahakuu, however, wasn't really having much of the time of his life with Scar and Tajima in charge of the village. "I would never have had to do this sort of thing for Rajah," he said more to himself than out loud. "What did you say, Mahakuu?" Scar asked him, demanding a good reason for mentioning his cousin's name.

Mahakuu suddenly realized that this was quite the mistake, and with the now teenage Ranjan next to him. "Nothing!" Mahakuu told them, shielding Ranjan with this sort of notion in mind. "Nothing at all, your leaderships," he finished, plastering a smile on his face.

Ranjan may have been a teenager now, but Messua was still busy trying to help the village and the jungle survive. Another thing was the fact that Shanti had been gone for over a month, now. Even if Shanti left the village to look for help, who even knew when, where, or if she would find it.

Scar and Tajima were both peeved at Mahakuu's mentioning of Rajah's name. "You know the law, Mahakuu," Tajima yelled at him in reminder. "Never, EVER, say 'that name' in my son's or my presence," Scar yelled further at Mahakuu. "Remember, Mahakuu, I am the village leader," Scar yelled again.

Mahakuu was even more terrified for Ranjan's sake of Scar and Tajima's power as the village leaders. "Yes, your leaderships," Mahakuu said, quivering with fear. "You are the village leader, Scar," he commented further. "I was speaking of the differences between your managerial approaches," he finally finished.

Then, Buldeo and Shakaani, Shere Khan and his mate's cubs, came strolling in with Tabaqui, Khuhaali, and Kaa. "Scar, Tajima, are you two in here?" Tabaqui asked them. "We've a bone to pick with the two of you," Khuhaali informed them. "What do all of you want, now?" Scar asked them. "We'll just give it to you two straight," Buldeo told them. "There's no food left even for the mice," he finished his part. "The rivers all over the jungle have dried up, leaving us without water, too," Shakaani added to her twin brother's complaint. "It'sssssssssss sssssssssuppertime, and there'sssssssssss nothing to eat at all," Kaa hissed at Tajima and Scar.

Tajima and his father, Scar, had heard this complaint many, many, many, many, many, many times before in the past 6 years since they took the village leaders' throne. "It's the hunters' job to hunt for the village's food," Scar reminded them, completely aggravated by this complaint being voiced, once again. "Well, they won't go hunting, anymore," Buldeo told them. "What do you expect us to do about it?!" Scar yelled. "Make 'em hunt, if you have to," Tabaqui said. "Better yet," Khuhaali began. "try to take us somewhere that we can get something to eat," he finished.

Scar and Tajima were just fed up with their whining. "Why don't you all just eat Mahakuu and stop your griping already?!" Tajima suggested. "Oh, you wouldn't want to eat me," Mahakuu protested. "Or Ranjan. We're both too tough and chewy," he finished his protest, excluding Ranjan from the menu, as well.

Suddenly, even to the banished ones, Rajah's reign seemed like Nirvana compared to the reign of Scar and Tajima. "And, I thought things were bad for us during the reign of Rajah," Buldeo mumbled more to his sister, Shakaani, than out loud. "What did you say?" Scar demanded from the twin tigers. "I said, uh," Buldeo started nervously. "Kagah! Buldeo said 'Kagah'!" Shakaani covered for her brother. "Oh, goody," Tajima finally said in response. "Get out, all of you," Scar ordered them. But, Kaa wouldn't give up. "But, we're ssssssssssssstill ssssssssssstarving and_" Kaa started to hiss his pleading hiss. "OUT!" Tajima ordered on his father's behalf. "Or we'll sick guns and the red flower on you guys," he finished.


	14. Accidental Insensitivity

Meanwhile back with the man-cub no one in the man-village or the jungle knew was still alive, Mowgli had just been made aware that he was now an adult by the residents of his current home. They were all pretty skittish around him, nowadays.

Tanra and Palau had now decided to talk to Mowgli about his size compared to all of them. "Don't get us wrong, Mowgli, you're still our friend," Palau told him. "You're just bigger, now," Tanra said on the matter. "Humans like you hunt guys like the rest of us for food and fur," Tanra continued.

Mowgli was only confused by this. "What about me? I don't do that sort of thing," he responded. "Well, in nature, there's a delicate balance," Tanra aided Mowgli's lesson. But, Mowgli seemed to already know where they were going with it. "Oh, yeah, the circle of life," Mowgli informed them. "I know about it," he finished.

They stubbornly rejected his information, though. "No," Tanra and Palau said in unison. "There's no circle," Palau told Mowgli. "Don't know where you're getting 'circle' from," Tanra told the young man. "It's the opposite, in fact. It's a line," the mongoose continued. "It's the meaningless line of indifference," he concluded. "We're all just running towards the end of the line, and then we're dead," Palau aided the lesson.

Mowgli still tried to defend his past beliefs fueled by every father figure he had ever known; especially Rajah's beliefs. Rajah, who no matter how much he missed, could never come back to Mowgli because of Mowgli, himself. Rajah, Mowgli's biological father up to whom he looked as a boy even when it was mistaken for an adoptive relationship, could never forgive the eldest son who took his own father's life. "Are you sure it's no circle?" Mowgli asked the two of them. "That we're all connected?" he asked further.

The mongoose and the pygmy hog protested further. "There is no circle, just like we said, kiddo," Tanra told Mowgli. "If it were a circle," Palau began. "it would mean that everything I do affects him, him, him, and so on," the pygmy hog finished. "It would mean that doing whatever we want and looking out for numero uno not that cool," Palau told Mowgli further on the subject. "You just look out for number one like a boss," Tanra stated.

Mowgli was still uncertain about it, until they finally persuaded him into helping them score a big one. "For the first time since we took you in, Mowgli," Tanra started. "we're entrusting you to make a plan for us," the mongoose finished. "Think about what you wanna do in life," Palau said to the young man. "Absolutely_" Mowgli began, then hit the termite mound with a large rock via one of his man-cub tricks. "_nothing!" Everyone all cheered for Mowgli.

Sure Mowgli was having a great time, but he only continued to be burdened by the guilt of killing his own father and making it up to Rajah by leaving the rest of their family, village, and all his old jungle friends behind. But, Mowgli knew he couldn't go back with all of the guilt weighing on his mind. He knew there was no life left for him back where he came from in more ways than he realized.

That night after the winged termite feast Mowgli created was done, he, Tanra, and Palau stared up at the night sky. "Hey, Tanra, do you ever look up there and wonder what those sparkly dots are?" the pygmy hog asked his mongoose friend. "Oh, Palau," Tanra stated to his friend. "I don't wonder; I know what they are," Tanra, the sarcastic, know-nothing know-it-all mongoose said. "Really? What are they?" Palau asked his friend.

Of course, Tanra's answer was not going to make much sense to Mowgli and only confuse Palau. "They're fireflies," Tanra replied. "Are fireflies supposed to move around though, Tanra?" Palau asked. "Fireflies that got stuck in that big blueish black thing," came Tanra's even more nonsensical reply back. "Are you sure, Tanra?" Palau asked. "Yes, I'm sure," Tanra replied. "Because I always thought they were balls of hot air and gas burning brightly millions of miles from where we are now," Palau replied his thoughts on it.

Tanra, as stubborn as he was in his beliefs, refused to be sold. "Oh, Palau, everything is gas and hot air with you," Tanra stated, rejecting his friend's sentiment; a sentiment which was actually more or less the truth than what Tanra said about the stars. "I know," Palau stated. "Why don't we ask Mowgli?" the pygmy hog asked as less of a question and more of a suggestion. "Mowgli, what do you think is up there?" Tanra asked, finally taking a suggestion from Palau seriously.

Mowgli finally felt comfortable enough around his new friends to express his past. "Well, someone once told me that the greatest leaders of the past are up there, watching over us," Mowgli told them. "You mean a bunch of a dead bosses are up there, looking down on us?" Tanra asked. If only these new friends had been sensitive enough not to laugh at Mowgli's sentiment about the stars. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Tanra giggled. "Yeah, pretty dumb, huh?" Mowgli forced a chuckle out if only to agree with his friends.

As soon as the laughter died down, however, Mowgli felt like just leaving from his spot with them. Tanra and Palau got concerned a bit when Mowgli left. "Was it something we said?" Tanra asked Palau, confused by Mowgli depression that seemed rather 'out-of-the-blue' to him. But because they couldn't have known that it was a sensitive topic for Mowgli, since he rarely ever talks about his past, they couldn't have known to treat it with respect.

Mowgli just sat down above the cliff. When he sat down and sighed in regret, a strand of his hair fell away from his head. The strand of hair Mowgli shed in his depression took a long journey all the way back to the wilds of his former homeland. The journey included running into a river, being carried by a colony of wild ants, and finally falling onto the robe of the man-village's priest and painter, Kasiim.

When Kasiim noticed a strand of on his robe that was too young to be his, he studied the hair very carefully. He deduced that it had recently fallen off the head of a young man. He examined the hair just a bit closer and then concluded something that everyone was gonna be very happy about. "Mowgli is ALIVE!" Kasiim said, taking the painting he drew of him as a boy out for the first time in 8 years.


	15. The Return of a Love for the Ages

Back with Mowgli's new friends, they were busy singing a song about things being peaceful in their home. Too bad it didn't last very long since a young human female came hunting in their home. They all were actually afraid to die at the hands of a girl. They supposed they could've taken her, if she didn't have a gun on her.

Palau ran for his life from the young woman. "She's gonna kill me!" the pygmy hog screamed at his mongoose friend. Then when he saw the young woman, it was Tanra's turn to scream. "Why do I always have to your_" Tanra began to ask Palau, but was interrupted by the young woman. The mongoose screamed at this terror. Then, in leapt Mowgli, having come to protect his friends. "See? We told you he'd come in handy," Palau told the rest of their friends. "I told you," Tanra reminded, which was actually only half-correct.

They all cheered Mowgli on, but the young woman still won by pinning him down. That was when a memory from the past clicked in Mowgli's mind to who exactly this girl was. "Shanti?" Mowgli asked, recognizing his girlfriend's old trick. The young woman suddenly grew pale and backed away from Mowgli. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?" the girl asked, holding her forearm in front of her face; something that proved even further to Mowgli that this young huntress was, indeed, Shanti from the man-village. "It's me," Mowgli told her. "It's Mowgli," he finally had the chance to tell her who he was.

Shanti inspected her sudden rival closer, and the young man's body and face definitely resembled Mowgli in an adult body with five o`clock shadow. "Mowgli?" she asked him. Her opponent nodded in response to her question. "Is it really you?" she asked further, holding her hand out towards him, this time. "Yeah, it's really me, Shanti. It's Mowgli," he confirmed to her. Shanti cried out for joy at having gotten to finally see her friend, Mowgli, alive again.

Mowgli and Shanti hugged it out. "Where have you been?" she asked him. "I thought you were dead. We all did," she explained to him. "What's going on here?" Tanra asked them, annoyed with the fact that this happened. "Guys, gather around," Mowgli told all of his new friends. "This is my best friend from when I lived in a man-village about 60-90 miles south of here. Her name is Shanti," Mowgli told them. "Hi," she said to them. "Hi, Shanti," they all responded.

Tanra finally caught up to them. "Hello," the mongoose said greeting her as well. Suddenly, he remembered what she tried to do to all of them earlier. "HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Tanra asked in a screaming voice. "Tanra, this is my friend from my home, Shanti," Mowgli answered. "Hey, Palau come over here," he told the pygmy hog.

Palau responded by getting himself out from under the tree root. "Oh, it's such a pleasure to meet you, m'lady," Palau greeted her very politely, even when she attacked them all. "The pleasure is all mine," Shanti said in response to being greeted like a princess. "Where have you been, Mowgli?" Shanti asked again. "Why did you never come back to the village?" she asked further. "You do know what this means, don't you?" she continued.

The other animals around them were curious as to what Shanti was talking about. "What does she mean, Mowgli?" a civet asked. "This means that you're the leader of our village, now," Shanti told Mowgli. "You're our village's sovereign leader," she finished. Mowgli, however, had no intention to go back home.

His newer animal friends, however, were amazed by the news. "You were the future leader of a governing man-village?" a bat-eared fox asked Mowgli. "And you never even told any of us about it?" Tanra asked him, adding to the fox's question. "Your leadership, I grovel at your feet," Palau said, kneeling at Mowgli's feet in response to the news. Then, the pygmy hog kissed the young man's feet for further effect.

Mowgli pulled his feet from Palau's kissing touch. "Stop it!" he said. "Come on, Shanti," Mowgli told her. "Let me show you around here. I know you'll love it." Shanti, however, didn't budge in her efforts to try and get Mowgli to come back to where he came from. "Mowgli, we need to leave. You have to take your rightful place on the village leader's throne," she told him. "Scar and Tajima have taken over the village and the jungle with the banished ones," she said further on the matter at hand with their homeland. "Come on, Shanti, this place is great," Mowgli told her, trying further to avoid going back.

The rest of the animals still stuck on the fact that Mowgli never even once told them he was the sovereign leader of the village he came from. "You were the leader of your own village, and you never told any of us?" Tanra asked as more of a statement than a question. "Calm down, you guys," Mowgli said to the mongoose. "That may have been who I was once, but now I'm still the same guy you all know," he finished. "But, with supreme power over the red flower," Tanra reminded.

Shanti, however, was quite concerned about the fact that Mowgli was rejecting his role as the village's rightful leader. "Mowgli, please, hear me out, I beg you," she pleaded of her old friend. "It's just like you're back from the dead. You don't know what this will mean to everyone; what it'll mean to Baloo, Bagheera; what it'll mean to the wolf pack; what it'll mean to Ranjan and your mother; and most of all, what it means to me," she finally finished her monologuing. "You have to come home, Mowgli," Shanti insisted further, not knowing that not even she could convince him this time. "This is my home," Mowgli told her. "Please, at least let me show you around. I promise you you'll love it," he finished.

Mowgli had finally talked Shanti into it. "OK, I suppose I could get a look at this place," she finally gave in. "Oy, I know where this is headed," Tanra told the other animals. "Hey, do you mind if we come along and help you show your girlfriend around?" Palau asked, unaware that he was asking to tag along on what might as well have been a date. "Sorry, guys, but this is actually not the right time for the rest of you to tag along," Mowgli told them all.

Tanra started to point everything out to the others that was going on with this; the asking, the showing around, the atmosphere for the setting. "It's all about love and romance when this happens," Tanra explained to Palau and the rest. Then, he even started a song verse about the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Mowgli and Shanti were walking around this new jungle like only a couple on a date would. Then, they actually started unknowingly singing along with the song Tanra started to sing about their romance in their own minds. 'So many things to tell her, but how to make her see?' Mowgli sang in his mind. 'The truth about my past? Impossible! She'd turn away from me,' he finished in his own head. 'He's holding back! He's hiding! But what? I can't decide. Why won't he be the leader I know is; the leader I see inside?' Shanti asked herself questioned she couldn't answer. Mowgli and Shanti jumped back into action as they continued their love song, until they finally stopped to appreciate the scenery around them.

Meanwhile with his newer animal friends, while Tanra and some of the animals believed that Mowgli was doomed, Palau and other animals thought it was sweet that the two of them seemed to be very much in love. "This is such a disaster," Tanra told them all. "You mean that they found each other like two soulmates separated and brought back together by the fickle hand of fate and the gentlest aid of time?" Palau asked, blown away by the beauty of Mowgli and Shanti's displays of love and affection.

Tanra felt disgusted by what Palau was thinking of the scene that was happening before them. "You just don't get it, do you, Mr. Pig?" Tanra questioned to the pygmy hog. "He's done for, finished, doomed to a life of responsibilities, if he goes back with her," Tanra concluded. "Oh," Palau responded.

Tanra, Palau, and the others tried all methods to stop the union while Mowgli and Shanti were too busy getting lost in one another's eyes. They tried to inflict Shanti with a splinter, hoping it would deter Mowgli from her. That method, however, was only met with pain for Tanra when Mowgli just took the splinter out and tossed it unwittingly at his newer friends.

Then, the gang, though reduced by a few of the animals, tried to have a spider ruin their date. But, that plan also backfired on Tanra most of all when the spider fell in love with a girl spider on his way down, and together they rapidly wove a lot of webs filled with hearts which added to the effect of Mowgli and Shanti's date. "Awwwwe!" exclaimed the civet, the bat-eared fox, and a genet as they all leaned onto one another. "That's so romantic," said Palau. While the rest actually thought it was a beautiful added effect to their friend's date with the girl he liked the most back where he came from, Tanra wound up being tangled up in the romantic spider web.

Their last plan to break up the romance fared the worst of all. The first reason because the timing and the physics of it were poorly planned. The other reason being because the break up committee had been reduced to just Tanra and Palau by then. They had planned to trip Shanti with a vine. They succeeded at their plan, but because Mowgli was holding onto her, he fell, too. Another hindrance to the plan was that when the young couple tripped, they catapulted the mongoose and the pygmy hog away.

Tanra and Palau did all they could to stop the love from happening, but it was to no avail. "Well, if he falls in love tonight, it can be assumed," Tanra started for them. "His carefree days with us are history," Palau said in response as the rest of the animals came back to them and joined in with them, making it a chorus that now realized there was no stopping the natural order of love. "In short, our pal is doomed," they all sang together.


	16. Mowgli Goes Home

Mowgli and Shanti were still touring around his current home. "I told you this place is amazing. You know, you could live here with us. With me," Mowgli offered his girlfriend. "It's very beautiful here," Shanti said, but her tone expressed sadness and confusion more than admiration. "There's just one thing I don't understand," she told him, changing the subject. "If you've been alive all this time, why didn't you ever come home?" she asked him.

Tanra, Palau, and the rest of the animals were waiting for them when they returned to the clearing. They were wondering why he stuck with them instead of going back all this time, themselves. "We've really needed you back in the village," Shanti told him. "The leaders of the jungle have needed you, too," she told him further on the subject. "Yeah, kid," Tanra added to her question. "Why did you stay here with all of us, instead of taking your rightful place, or whatever?" the mongoose asked. "They're fine without me, Shanti," Mowgli said, not knowing how wrong he was. "I'm not the village leader. The village and the jungle have Scar and Tajima," Mowgli told her.

Tanra was only concerned about keeping Mowgli here as long as they all needed him. "OK! Problem solved! You can go now, sister," Tanra said to Shanti. "Problem not solved," Shanti said to them all. "Scar and Tajima have destroyed the jungle, chased off all of the herds, and worst of all, they've killed Akela." Shanti knew how much Mowgli loved his wolf family. She had hoped that mentioning what Scar and Tajima did to the pack's alpha wolf would bring Mowgli to come to his senses. But, that was to no avail, too.

Mowgli just stubbornly refused to go back with Shanti. "Scar and Tajima are the leaders of the village, now," he repeated himself in defiance of her requests. "Mowgli, there's no food and no water," she told him, trying harder to reason with him. "If you don't come back and fulfill your obligations as the rightful leader, we're all going to starve," she finished.

Shanti knew what she was talking about, and she had been gone from the village for the past 5 months. Mowgli, on the other hand, had been gone for the past 8 years. "There's nothing I can do to help," Mowgli told her. "What about Ranjan and your mother?" Shanti tried even harder to talk some sense into Mowgli. "What would they think if they knew you've been alive this whole time, living it up here while everyone else was struggling even for scraps?" she tried harder. "Bagheera and Baloo, you don't know what they'd do to keep up hope of seeing you again," she tried harder.

Shanti seemed to finally get Mowgli's attention by mentioning the sloth bear and the black leopard. "What's happened with Bagheera and Papa Bear?" Mowgli asked desperately. "Seems like you really do still care about all of us," she said, proud that she finally seemed to succeed. "They helped my escape from the village, but the two of them were exiled from the village grounds just before I left," she told him about the aiding she received from them to leave the village in search of help 5 months ago. But, Mowgli put his mask of indifference back on. "See? You left," he told her.

Shanti sighed in exasperation, learning that she was back to square one in her efforts to talk some sense into Mowgli. "I left to look for help, wherever I could find it," she began. "and I found you. You need to challenge Scar and Tajima." Mowgli was still refusing to buy what she was selling. "I can't go back, ever, plain and simple," Mowgli told her in further defiance. "Why not? Because of what happened at the chasm that day?" she asked, unaware that she just reminded Mowgli of his role in his own father's death. "Scar and Tajima told us that_" Shanti began again, but Mowgli interrupted her. "You wouldn't understand!" he hollered at her for the first time in even their friendship. "I would if you'd just tell me," she told him.

Shanti wasn't wrong that she would probably understand if he just told her what happened, but Mowgli just rebuked her advice. "You couldn't understand, either," he told her, pretending to ignore her attempt at condolences. "Why should I even worry about any of it?" Mowgli asked Shanti in defiance. "Why should you even worry about any of it?" Shanti responded to his question by repeating it herself. "What's happened to you? You're not the Mowgli I remember," she told him, shocked to hear these words from his mouth. "And, I never will be again. Are you satisfied?" Mowgli asked her in defiance of her words. "No, just disappointed," she responded. "You know what? You're starting to sound like my father," Mowgli told her. "Good," Shanti said. "I'm glad one of does," she finished.

Mowgli might not have let it show, but he was hurt by what Shanti just said. "I came here looking for help, but I guess I made a mistake," she said. "Goodbye, Mowgli," she said, leaving who she mistook for her old friend in the dust.

Mowgli started walking the other way. Tanra, Palau and the rest of the animals showed up later. "Wow, I didn't think she'd ever leave," Tanra said. "Now, you can get back to relaxing with the rest of us, right, Mowgli?" Mowgli just continued the other way. "Mowgli?" Tanra asked. "I need some time to myself," Mowgli told them all.

Later that day, Mowgli started mumbling things. "Who does she think she is? Go back? I can't go back. Go home? I am home," Mowgli said on the way to a clearing in the jungle. The stars showed up in his line of vision. They all reminded him further of what he did to his own father and made him angry. "You said you'd always be there for me!" he screamed out to the stars. "But you're not," he continued. "Because of me," he finished.

Suddenly, a mysterious elderly man in a long robe showed up in Mowgli's view. 'Just keep walking, Mowgli,' he thought to himself. But, it was soon revealed that the man was indeed following him based on how the man kept showing up in his view. "Go away already, will you, crazy old geezer?" Mowgli sneered at the man. "I will not go away until you answer the question, my boy," the man told Mowgli.

Mowgli was confused. He wasn't sure what this strange man wanted from him. "What question?" he asked. "Who are you?" he asked in addition. "I know exactly who I am. The question is 'who are you?'," the man asked Mowgli. "I'm nobody, got it? So, leave me alone," he responded. "Everybody is somebody, even a nobody," the man stated.

Mowgli wasn't budging on his answer to this man. "Yeah, I think you're confused," he retorted to the old man. Soon the elderly man came in front of Mowgli. "I'm confused? You don't even know who you are," the old man told Mowgli. "What? And you do?" Mowgli asked the man, still unimpressed. "I most certainly do know who you are," the man answered. "Oh yeah, then who am I?" Mowgli asked him in defiant stubbornness. "You're Village Leader Rajah's eldest boy," the old man answered.

This answer finally caught Mowgli's attention. He suddenly wanted to know more from the old man who claimed to have known his father, but the old man was gone too fast. "Bye," he told Mowgli. "Wait a minute! Wait!" Mowgli said back to the man as he followed him.

When Mowgli finally caught up with the old man, he decided then and there were as good of a time and place to ask this man what he knew about his father. "You knew my father?" Mowgli asked him. "Correction; I know your father," the old man answered. This only confused Mowgli. "He died a long time ago," Mowgli said, saddened. "Nope, he's alive," the old man told Mowgli. "And, I can take you to him. Follow me! I'll show you," the man finished.

Mowgli gave chase after him. "Wait! Wait up!" he said to the man. "If you can keep up," the man said mischievously. Mowgli tried his best to keep up with the man, but the man was too quick. Luckily for Mowgli, the journey to where the man was leading him was quick enough. "Stop!" the man told Mowgli as soon as they reached their destination.

The old man shushed Mowgli as if telling him to be silent and approach with caution. "Look down there," the man told him silently. Mowgli headed the old man's advice, but doubted it as soon as he made his way to where the man pointed. It was only the surface of a pond which reflected his face. "That's not my father," Mowgli told the old man. "It's just my reflection," he finished.

The old man, however, had something more to show Mowgli than just a mirror image of himself. "Look further and harder," the old man told him. Then, the old man touched his own finger to Mowgli's reflection in the pond. "You see?" the man asked Mowgli. It was then that Rajah's own image appeared in the water. Mowgli was shocked, yet moved to see his father again. "He lives in you," the old man told Mowgli.

Just at that moment, Mowgli even heard Rajah's voice speaking to him. "Mowgli," Rajah said from within the sky. "Father?" Mowgli asked if it was really him as he looked up to the sky. What seemed like Rajah's ghost had appeared within the clouds. "Mowgli, you have forgotten me," Rajah's ghost told his living son. "No, I could never forget you," Mowgli began to defend the actions he took for the past eight years. "I couldn't and wouldn't ever forgive myself if I had. How could I?" Mowgli finished his defensive statement with a question. "You have forgotten who you are and so you have forgotten me," Rajah's ghost explained.

The ghost of Mowgli's father just continued from there. "You must challenge Scar and Tajima, and take your rightful place in the village," Rajah's ghost spoke further. "How can I, Father? I'm not who I used to be," Mowgli told his father's ghost. "I'm not your son anymore. I haven't been for the last eight years. I ran away and let the village and the jungle's fates fall into Scar and Tajima's hands. How could I ever even think to go back?" Mowgli asked Rajah's ghost. "I don't know how to be a leader like you were," Mowgli finished.

Rajah's ghost could see that his living son needed some encouragement. "As leader of the village, I was most proud of one event; when you finally came back into the lives of your mother and I," Rajah's ghost told Mowgli to boost his son's confidence in himself. "That was a long time ago," Mowgli said with tears in his eyes. "No, Mowgli, that is forever," Rajah's ghost said.

Mowgli noticed that his father's apparition was getting ready to leave, again. "No, dad," Mowgli began to give chase after his father's ghost from the pond. "Please, don't leave me again, father, please," Mowgli pleaded. "I never left you, Mowgli," Rajah's ghost told his son. "I never will. Remember who you are," the spirit finished, and went on his way back to the spirit world.

The old man took this as an opportunity. "So, let me ask again; who are you, my boy?" he asked Mowgli. "I am the eldest son of Rajah, leader of the village. I was once named Hangoji, but now I am Mowgli, and I have a village and its surrounding jungle to save and protect," Mowgli told the old man. The old man cheered as Mowgli embraced these words from his recovered memories. Mowgli roared like Baloo had once talk him. He was ready to take his rightful place in his village home and help his jungle home return to life.

He was on his way out of the jungle in which he now lived. He was spotted by Tanra, Palau and the rest of the animals he'd made friends with in that jungle. "I'm going home, guys," Mowgli told them all. "Home?" Tanra questioned just as Mowgli was out of the jungle. He eventually reunited with a downcast Shanti who became happy again after seeing him come back, after all.


	17. Mowgli's Return to the Jungle

On the way back home, the two of them passed by the desert, the shrublands and even the chasm that Mowgli recognized all too well. But, he was no longer going to let his fear of his past weigh him down. He was finally coming home.

When Mowgli and Shanti arrived home, however, the only sight that could greet Mowgli upon his return was even worse than Shanti had actually described it to be. "It looks horrible, doesn't it?" Shanti asked her old friend. "I didn't wanna believe you," Mowgli started. "I just can't believe it actually looks worse than how you put it," he finished.

Shanti wanted to be a source of strength for her friend, but she didn't know what she could do to help Mowgli. "So, what'll you do, Mowgli?" she asked her friend. "My father once told to protect everything the light touches. I'll have to fight Scar and Tajima for the jungle and for the village," Mowgli stated. "If I don't fight for these lands, who will?" he asked her. "I will," she answered. "It'll be dangerous, Shanti my dear," Mowgli warned his best friend turned true love. "Danger? Ha," Shanti began. "I laugh in the face of danger. Ha, ha, ha, ha," she responded further to his warning.

Just then, a bear, a black panther and an entire wolf pack approached the two of them. It was Baloo, Bagheera, and the Seeonee wolf pack. Raksha approached them first. "Shanti, dear girl," Raksha said to her. Then, Baloo approached her, acknowledging that she was finally back. "Shanti, how's my jungle princess?" the sloth bear asked her. He hugged her, and she hugged him back. "Never been better, Papa Bear," Shanti told the bear winking at him. "Shanti!" Bagheera exclaimed. "Bagheera!" Shanti hugged Bagheera, too. "How have you been handling yourself out there, my child?" the panther asked her. "I've been fine, Bagheera. Nothing to worry too much about," she responded to the panther.

Mowgli was happy to see all of his old jungle friends getting along so well with his true love for the first time in his life. Then, Rama and Grey Brother noticed Shanti had brought some help like she said she would. "Shanti, hold on a moment," Rama told her. "Could it be?" Grey Brother asked. "Oh, it is, Grey," Shanti told Grey Brother, along with everyone else. "Mowgli, is that really you?" Rama asked the young man. "I'm back, Father Wolf. I've come home, at last," Mowgli answered. They all bowed at his feet. "Your Leadership," they said in unison. "Welcome home, Little Britches. Welcome home," Baloo said after approaching Mowgli himself.

Then, Tanra, Palau and the rest of their friends could be heard from behind Mowgli and Shanti. "We're here," Palau told them all. "Everyone, calm down," Tanra added. "The back-up has arrived," Palau told them all. "What are you guys all doing here?" Mowgli asked them. "We were, um, not worried," Palau told Mowgli. "Right, not worried," Tanra added. "Because of 'no worries'. Just um…," Palau began, but paused. "Concerned," Tanra finished for his pygmy hog friend. "Cause you're our friend, Mowgli," Palau stated their concerns. "What about the meaningless line of indifference, you guys?" Mowgli asked them.

They decided to think of an appropriate response on the subject. "Well, we were thinking that maybe it curves a little bit," Palau told Mowgli. "Yeah, yeah," added Tanra. "Look, Mowgli, I'm happy to admit when Palau's wrong, and this was one of those times," Tanra told them. "What? I didn't even_ You're the one who told me about the line," the pygmy hog told the mongoose.

Then, the two of them and the rest of the outcasted animals noticed what Mowgli, Shanti and his old jungle friends were looking at. "Wait a minute," Tanra began. "This is the place you're fighting for?" Tanra asked Mowgli. "This was the jungle I was raised in for ten years of my life until I had turned ten," Mowgli answered for them. "The village just beyond here is my home, and I can tell you all. It's not a good sign that I can spot it when we're this far away from it," he finished. "Wow, that's a bummer," Palau stated. "Talk about your fixer-upper," Tanra added. "I like what you carnivores have done with it, although a little heavy on the carcass," Tanra continued.

The wolf pack was not impressed with Mowgli's newer friends. "How charming," Rama said sarcastically. "Can I please hurt these guys, dad?" Grey Brother asked Rama. "I'm sorry, but you can't. They may be difficult to deal with, but they are Mowgli's friends, nonetheless," Rama told his wolf son. "You get used to them eventually," Shanti told the wolf pack. "They're actually helpful when you've known them long enough," Mowgli told them all.

Now, it was time to talk to his newer friends about their comments. "Tanra, Palau, this wasn't my wolf family's doing, nor was it my panther and bear friends'," Mowgli told the mongoose and the pygmy hog. "And, this place wasn't always a wasteland," Shanti added. "It used to be a jungle that was as leafy and vibrant as your own home is, maybe even more," Shanti took the moment to brag a little. "What? You're pulling my leg, sister," Tanra told her. "I don't get it; if this place wasn't always such a wasteland, and if the carnivores and around us had nothing to with it, how'd it wind up like this?" Palau asked. "It was Scar, Tajima and the banished ones who did this to our jungle," Bagheera told them.

Tanra and Palau were confused by both the names and the term the panther used. "Scar is Mowgli's father's cousin, and Tajima is Scar's son," Shanti told them. "As for the banished ones, they're the animals who were banished from the jungle to the deadlands after a tyrannical tiger named Shere Khan, who thought he was above the law of the jungle and only thought of revenge, was finally defeated by Mowgli, himself," Shanti finished.

Baloo suddenly saluted Mowgli like an army corporal. "We are with you 'till the very end, Mowgli sir," the bear told his friend. "We are at your humblest services, my liege," Palau added to the bear's sentiment. "Everyone, follow me," Mowgli told them all. They all went into the jungle grounds and headed for the village. The only problem was that the village was being guarded by the banished ones.

Tanra and Palau were suddenly scared stiff, but shook it off fast enough to focus. "Hyenas and jackals everywhere. I hate hyenas and jackals," Tanra said to them all. "I really, really hope it's a quick death," Palau added. "Just-just not a lot of chewing," he finished. "So, what's your plan for getting us past the slobbering guards, Mowgli?" Tanra asked. "Live bait," Mowgli told them. "Good plan. Good plan," Tanra said, until he knew what that meant. "Hey!" the mongoose continued. "Come on, Tanra," Mowgli said. "Don't chicken out on us, now," he finished. "What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?" Tanra asked Mowgli.

It wasn't what Mowgli had in mind precisely, but Tanra and Palau did it for a live bait trap, anyway. "Luau!" Tanra exclaimed dressed in a hula skirt. "If you're hungry for a hunk of fat and juicy meat, eat my buddy, Palau, here because he is a treat," Tanra started to sing. "Come on down and dine on this tasty swine. All you have to do is get in line. Are you aching_" Tanra sung further. "Yep, yep, yep," Palau joined in. "For some bacon?" Tanra sang even more. "Yep, yep, yep," Palau joined in, again. "He's a big pig," Tanra sang further. "Yep, yep," Palau joined in, one more time. "You can be a big pig, too. Oy!" Tanra finished his and Palau's distraction song with another exclamation. Then, they ran away from the hyenas and the jackals, screaming.

Now, it was onto Kaa, the python snake, and the sovereign tiger family. Baloo and Bagheera decided to take on the snake, while the pack distracted the tiger family. Finally, it was time for Mowgli and Shanti to head towards the village. "Shanti, find Ranjan and my mother and rally the villagers. I'll take care of Scar and Tajima," Mowgli told his girlfriend. "OK, Mowgli. Be careful," Shanti warned her friend.

Meanwhile from his own house, Kasiim, the old man who had helped Mowgli in Tanra and Palau's jungle was watching and began to get ready to fight the good fight. "Ah, my old friend," Kasiim said after he took out his priest's fighting staff from his hidden compartment.


End file.
